《Beastmastery - A LitRPG Novel》


 Chapter 1

    Anika was having a stressful day. She had arrived late for work because she wanted to spend time with her son that morning. She made eggs, fresh coffee and even bought a small cake with a candle in it as a birthday treat. Everything would have been perfect, but he refused to get out of bed for a long time, so it ended up being a rushed breakfast.


    It was now late afternoon. All she could think about was getting out of the office in time to buy her son a present. He seemed upset that there was nothing to unwrap at breakfast time, so she promised to pick something up from the Virtual Reality Gear store and meet him for dinner in Soho at 6 pm.


    Her boss had then dragged her into a client meeting to present slides on their latest updates. The meeting dragged on past 5 pm and she could feel her stomach clenching with the stress of making it out in time. She had also not eaten any lunch in an effort to get as much done as possible and leave earlier than usual, so her stomach was starting to complain.


    "Looks like you are in a hurry." Her colleague struck up a conversation just as she was packing her laptop away and clearing her desk.


    "I''ve been trying to leave for ages. It''s Ted''s birthday, he''s eighteen today, and I have to get him something before we go to dinner. He''ll be out with his mates in the evening so I can''t be late." She checked her watch for the twentieth time that afternoon. There was still time, but she had to leave now.


    "Can you tell Sarah I will get those meeting notes for her tomorrow please? I''m off now."


    Without waiting for a reply she grabbed her bag and headed into central London to find the VR store. As she was rushing down a busy shopping street, she pulled up an email from Ted she had received a few weeks ago. It had a list of things he wanted for his birthday, along with specs and instructions for getting the right stuff.


    <ol>


    <li> ZenVR Visor (blue) - I this needs to be medium, but just buy what they have and I can take it back if it doesn''t fit. ¡ê7-8k unless they are doing an offer</li>


    <li> ZenVR Haptic suit (black) -</li>


    </ol>


    She only got to the second item when a message popped up. It was from Ted.


    Hi Mum. I can''t make it tonight and don''t worry about getting that VR gear I asked for. I won''t be back for a while. Got sponsored by Pure Warheads e-Sports to play Everscape. It''s a pretty big deal. I get my own Perma pod and I''ll be making some money. Don''t worry about me. Ted


    Anika stopped walking and read the message a few times over. She was being nudged and bumped by the other shoppers in the street, a few of them telling her to keep moving. She couldn''t. She was frozen stiff as the reality of the message began to sink in.


    At first she felt annoyed with him. They were going to spend quality time together that evening, it was so rare that they sat down and talked together over a nice meal. She had made such an effort to leave early and now it was all for nothing. Then it dawned on her that he would be gone for a while. How long would that be?If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    After standing in the crowds for a good ten minutes she made her way to a cafe. Her plan was to call him and talk some sense into him. He still had his studies to think about and she certainly hadn''t given him permission to play computer games for a living.


    With a coffee and a sandwich in front of her, she took a deep breath and prepared to call him. It was his birthday, so she didn''t want to be too harsh, but there was no way she was going to let him join that e-Sports team.


    The phone went straight to voicemail. He must have turned it off, knowing that she would call to argue with him. She tried a few more times before giving up. She didn''t even bother leaving a message. Everything felt hopeless. Maybe it was all her fault. Had she let him play that stupid game too much? She had given him everything he wanted and spent a small fortune on the latest VR equipment because she felt bad about never being home. She should have been a better mum.


    After finishing her sandwich she decided to do some research on these Perma pods as well as the Pure Warheads Ted had mentioned.


    The Pure Warheads website was full of tournament news and rankings. There were live video streams showing fantasy characters doing battle in Everscape Online. It was a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (VRMMORPG). Ted had talked about it constantly on the rare occasions they sat down for dinner. Now she wished that she had paid more attention.


    Could people really make money playing this sort of computer game? That was ridiculous.


    A search for Perma pods and Everscape Online brought up loads of blog articles and product information. They were expensive machines designed to allow for total immersion in the game. The newer ones cost over ¡ê200k and the running costs were ridiculous as well. Players would lie horizontally on a bed of some sort, with thousands of sensors and other things attached to them. It looked more like hospital technology than anything else, like the combination of an MRI scanner and a coffin. On top of that, the Perma pods had to be staffed by medical professionals who would monitor and manage the health of the players.


    She noticed a few articles from the tabloid newspapers about players who had spent months in these things. It was shocking. There were reports of players becoming so addicted to the game that they didn''t leave the pods for months. How was that even possible? Didn''t they need to eat and go to the bathroom? She supposed that was what the medical staff were for, and this was the reason that the running costs were so high.


    The most horrific story had a picture of a young man in a hospital bed on the feature. He was ghostly pale, very skinny and his eyes had sunk into his skull. He looked like a zombie. The article described how he had received a sponsorship to play for an e-sports team after playing with the normal haptic gear for a few years. They had given him access to a Perma pod when they were still in beta and he had never even thought of leaving the game until system health warnings had made the game impossible to play. He wished he had got out sooner because he was now looking at months of physical and mental rehabilitation.


    This was awful. This could be Ted if she didn''t do something about it.


    Having read enough about the horrors of these Perma pods, Anika decided to take the next day off work and find out where her son was going to be. She planned on going straight to the Everscape headquarters in London and demand that her son leave the game and come home with her.

 Chapter 2

    Anika gulped down a hot cup of coffee and searched for the address of the Everscape headquarters in London. The offices were located south of the river, she could get a tube to Greenwich and then a taxi the rest of the way. It was an area of London she had never spent much time in, but she knew that many of the multinational corporations had their headquarters there.


    On the way, she pulled up articles about Everscape and read more stories of people leaving their Perma pods. Reading through them made her feel sick to her stomach, and she wished she had eaten breakfast. The story she read yesterday, about the boy in the hospital bed who looked like a zombie, was not an isolated case. There were many more stories like this and there were groups of parents and relatives who were campaigning to put an end to the technology that was being used. She also found an official announcement from an Everscape spokesperson trying to defend their technology. It turned out that most of the negative side effects had occurred when these pods were still in beta. They had originally developed a health monitoring system which would alert the players about their physical health and give them the option to logout. In the early stage beta pods, this system was not functioning properly and so the proper warnings had not been received by several players.


    Anika was shaking her head with each story she read. Even if they had improved the technology and made it safer to play, there was no way she would allow her son to get involved in that. Not only was the game itself highly addictive, although she couldn''t see why she also felt it was irresponsible for a business to disregard the health of their customers.


    She arrived at the Everscape offices shortly after nine in the morning and was greeted by a huge building fronted with glass windows. Once inside, it was clear she had found the right place as the Everscape branding was all over the walls. She marched straight up to the reception and explained to the young lady that she needed to see her son.


    "I''m very sorry Miss, but I''m not allowed to give out any details about players in the game or their location." It was a stock response and seemed like it had been rehearsed. This was not the first time this young lady was having to deal with someone like Anika.


    "I don''t think you understand what is going on. I am Ted''s mother and I have not given permission for him to be turned into a zombie by your gaming pods. If you don''t fetch somebody who can help, I will go straight to the police." She knew it would be pointless to have any further conversation with the receptionist so throwing in the bit about the police would hopefully get her to escalate the situation.


    "Just wait one moment, I will have somebody come and see you." The receptionist displayed a fake smile.


    "You better make it quick. I need Ted out of those things straight away." She banged her fist on the reception counter, causing quite a stir with the other visitors. This wasn''t like her at all. She was normally quiet and diplomatic, but all she felt in that moment was anger and rage, fuelled by the stories she had read on the train in the morning.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The young lady at reception had a phone to her ear but didn''t seem to be speaking with anyone. What was she waiting for? After a few minutes, Anika was getting frustrated and was just about to speak up again when the lady at reception looked over her shoulder and smiled with relief. Anika turned around, expecting to see a manager or something, someone she could explain the situation to and get the help she needed.


    Instead of a manager coming to help, she now saw two security guards walking straight towards her. The receptionist must have pressed a panic button and was just holding the telephone for show. What a bitch.


    "Could you come with us please, right this way." Both of the guards gestured her away from the reception.


    "I''m not going anywhere until I see my son." Despite her outburst, she let the guards escort her to some seats near the entrance. They explained to her that she should stay calm and that any further signs of aggression and they would call the police. To reassure her, they said an Everscape rep would come down and talk to her if she was patient.


    Although it was only 20 minutes of waiting, it felt like hours. During that time she considered all her options. If talking to this representative was unsuccessful then what could she do? Calling her solicitor would be the first step, and it sounded the most logical, but what she most wanted to do was cause damage to something or someone. That was how she felt.


    The representative was a well dressed young man with soft blue eyes and a smart suit. He greeted her with a smile and took a seat next to her. Everything about his body language seemed to show he had been trained to deal with situations like this. He spent the first five minutes clarifying that he understood how upset she was, and that he remembered when he first left home, how sad and upset his mother was.


    "This has nothing to do with my son leaving home. This is about your technology, your Perma pods and the danger that my son is in."


    The young man then explained about all the latest developments in their technology. About how safe it was, about how many players were using the pods and about the health warnings. Basically, there was nothing for her to be scared of. He also reminded her that Ted was now 18 years old, so there was nothing she could do. He had signed a contract, and the terms and conditions between Everscape and the players stated that their identity and the location of the pods were strictly confidential.


    This guy was a smooth talker, he pre-empted her questions and concerns with well-rehearsed lines about safety and the legal issues involved. After thirty minutes of conversation, it was clear that she would not be getting any help from this company. When she didn''t seem to have any further questions or objections, he stood up and held out his hand thanking her for her visit. He was even cheeky enough to suggest that if she wanted to speak with her son, she could sign up for an account and meet with him inside the game.


    "Don''t be ridiculous. You will hear from my solicitor." And with that she rushed out of the building, her head in a mess, lips trembling with rage and a small tear in her eye.

 Chapter 3

    Even though she needed breakfast, Anika didn''t wait until she got to a coffee shop before she called Philip Murphy, her solicitor. He was delighted to take her call because they had been heavily involved over the last two years, settling her father''s estate, and he knew a call from her would get billed at top rates. After she explained the situation and some of the legal arguments the Everscape rep had provided her with, he promised that he would do whatever he could to help.


    She told him that this was an urgent matter and that he should spare no expense in getting her son out of those death traps. After this, he reassured her. He would get straight onto it, but he would need a few hours to dig up the Everscape contracts and read through them, after which he would call her back with their options.


    Feeling relieved that somebody was on her side, she headed for the nearest coffee shop to get breakfast. She was tempted to read through more articles about the dangers of the immersion pods but decided against it. Instead, she tried to find out more about the Pure Warheads team her son was now involved with. Hopefully, she could figure out what Ted was getting up to.


    Most of the things she read on the Pure Warheads website was beyond her. She could see the rankings and scores of individual players, and league tables for the different teams. It seemed just like any other sports website, except this was all taking place in a virtual world. She spent some time on the player profiles section, hoping that she could find her son and see if there was a way of contacting him through the website. None of the profiles had a Contact Me button anywhere, and what was even more worrying was that none of them used their real names in the game. They all had strange fantasy names. There was no way she could find out which one was Ted.


    Philip called back as he promised after two hours. It wasn''t good news. He tried to summarise their legal position and the general gist of it was that they didn''t have a leg to stand on legally. Unless they could prove that Everscape was being negligent and that Ted''s life was in danger, there was little he could do.


    The news didn''t come as a shock to Anika. The Everscape rep had been quite convincing that morning, she also got the impression she wasn''t the first person caught up in this situation. Philip reminded her that because Ted was 18 years old he was entitled to do what he wanted with his life. Even if that meant risking his physical and mental health to play a computer game.


    He recommended that she contact the friends and relatives of players who had been affected by the Everscape technology and try to get a civil case together. It was a long shot, but he felt it was the best thing she could do to make a difference. He also suggested that she could join the game herself and speak to him inside the game, try to talk some sense into him.


    She had laughed it off when the Everscape rep suggested that she join the game a few hours ago. But now that Philip had suggested it, it didn''t sound like such a bad idea. Well, it was a bad idea, but it was the best option, perhaps the only decent option she had available right now.


    She returned to the Everscape headquarters and wanted to talk to them about getting an account. When she got there, she avoided the receptionist she had spoken to earlier in the day, she would be less than helpful and Anika was not there to cause trouble. She kept an eye out for the security guards as well.


    The new receptionist was thrilled to see her and told her there was no need for her to have come all the way to their headquarters to sign up for an account. They had haptic centres all across London where she could turn up and get an account on the spot, she could be online within minutes. Anika explained that she was new to the game and asked if somebody could help her understand more about it before she joined. Before long she was greeted by an account manager who took her into a small office on the first floor to discuss setting up the account.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The account manager took her through most of the basics and payment options. As he was getting into detail about the premium packs and upgrades, she cut him short and told him she was not planning to join this silly game to make friends or have fun, she was there to find her son and talk him out of playing it. He tried to be pleasant and suggested a few options she may still be interested in. He also recommended places where she could buy her own gear but explained that their haptic centres would have equipment she could rent out hourly.


    He walked through the contract with her and she was made to sign several clauses relating to liability for health issues. These were the clauses that prevented anyone from blaming Everscape if things went wrong. She had no choice, she also had no energy left to resist or argue, despite her reservations about the safety of playing this game.


    With a pleasant smile, after she had signed the final parts of the contract, he shook her hands and welcomed her aboard as a new player. Before she left, she asked him how she might find her son. He told her that it could be difficult, with over 150 million accounts and at least 50 million players online at any given time. When he saw the look on her face, he tried making up for it and said that if Ted was a pro player, he would most likely have a certain celebrity status. She could probably find him by going to the various tournament hubs in the game. He then wished her best of luck and escorted her out of his office.


    Anika took the next two days off work, just in case it would take her some time to find her son. She planned on going to the Everscape Haptic Centre in Leicester Square, which was where Ted had gone to often with his friends in the past.


    ---


    "Can I rent one of your haptic rigs on the basic plan for eight hours please?" She had already spent a few minutes browsing the pricing tables, and the long list of mods and extras that were available. She didn''t know what half of it was for, so just decided on the basic package which would allow her to join the game and start creating her character.


    "Is this your first time in Everscape? If so, I would recommend our latest haptic suit with Zen Pro gloves and Pro visor. You can choose your own colours but the new suits only come in white." He had a catalogue of gadgets and equipment, some of them she recognised because she had spent a small fortune on this stuff over the last few years, equipping Ted so he could play with his friends when he was not studying.


    The suit was comfortable and snug, some kind of mixture of nylon and rubber. As soon it was on, and she had made sure it was a good fit, the assistant came over and activated the vacuum function. This meant that every inch of the suit was in contact with her naked skin. He helped her put the visor over her head as she strapped on the gloves.


    "A few housekeeping rules. The suit will monitor your bodily functions, you will get a notification when it is time for you to log out so you can have a rest and go to the bathroom. The basic package includes the use of communal toilets, but the use of a bunk bed adds an extra charge to your bill. If for whatever reason, you do not log out in time and any of the equipment gets damaged, you will be responsible for the cleaning charges. Are you ready to start?"


    "How will I be able to tell when I need to go to the bathroom?"


    "Like I said, the suit monitors your body. You won''t feel tired or hungry inside the game, and you won''t know when it is time to go to the bathroom. As you get more uncomfortable, the system will let you know when it is time to stop. I suggest you pay attention to this and don''t leave it too long."


    This was it. Although she was nervous, she was also excited. Some of the stress and frustration she had felt earlier in the day was gone now. She would finally get to see what Ted had been going on about for the last few years, and with any luck, she could look him in the eyes and talk some sense into him.

 Chapter 4

    Anika pulled down the haptic visor and was confronted with a large green Login button in her view. At first, she didn''t know how to press it but then realised that it highlighted itself whenever she focused on it, as opposed to just observing it. She focused on it hard enough so it activated. There was no mouse or pointing device for her to use, and it felt strange that the headgear she was wearing knew what she was trying to do. She wasn''t used to this way of controlling a computer screen.


    As soon she had logged in she was greeted by a welcome message.


    Welcome to Everscape Online. If this is your first time in the game, we recommend that you read through the tutorial messages which will guide you through the character selection process. If you have played before, you are welcome to skip and go straight to the character creation screen.


    The first step in the character creation process was race selection. There was a carousel of different fantasy races she could flick through, and a male/female choice icon. Most of the races were familiar to her; there were elves, dwarves and orcs, and several other unusual races. None of them appealed to her. She hadn''t joined the game to run around like an elf or an orc, so she was relieved to see that a normal human was also available.


    She selected a female human, still trying to get used to applying the right amount of focus so that her choice would highlight and get selected. Once the selection had been made, she was taken to a virtual dressing room with a host of options for customising her new character''s appearance. Although her own hair was dark brown, the character staring back at her had a warm red-brown hair colour. She flicked through a few different shades but eventually went back to the red colour she saw at first. Then came the facial features. She didn''t spend too long on these because the face of her character was already beautiful. She added a set of gold earrings because they looked nice, and why not have an accessory when it was made available to her.


    After this, she zoomed out to see her character from head to toe, and despite the modest clothes she was wearing, she was pleased with how her character looked. She couldn''t tell if her character was tall or short, there was nothing to compare with or to use as a reference. However, before finishing and moving onto the next step, she made her character taller. She had always wanted to be tall with long legs in real life.


    The next step in the character creation process was to select a class. By the looks of it, there were hundreds of different classes available. Some were magic users, others were warrior types with different fighting styles and then there were classes who seemed boring, to be honest. She could see they all had different class bonuses and there was a helpful page for each type of class explaining what their strengths and weaknesses were and what play style they were best suited for.


    How she wished she had spent more time listening to Ted when he had been explaining about all the intricacies of the game. She felt at a loss and had a feeling that the choice she was about to make would influence her ability to find Ted.


    She knew he played a fighting class, something with daggers and poisons. When she spotted the Rogue class listing with some of the skills and abilities common to the class, she realised that this was the class he was playing. He had once explained to her at length about how he was making certain types of poisons, and how they enabled him to succeed in his battles and tournaments because he could match the right poison to the right opponent. She considered choosing a Rogue, hoping that it would help her get closer to him. But when she read that the class suited a player keen to get up close and personal with their enemies, striking from behind and dodging lethal blows, she wasn''t so thrilled.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    She spent the best part of an hour flicking through the different options but still couldn''t find a class that appealed to her. Then she noticed one of the tutorial hints in the top right corner of her view. She selected it and found that she could filter the classes in a few different ways. One filter was called Play Style, so she looked through the options that were available. The list wasn''t long. She could see that there were several healer classes, then there were tanks who were supposed to protect others and be able to take a lot of damage. She didn''t see herself getting into much fighting so taking damage or healing other people seemed pointless. The first one she identified with was the play style: Soloist.


    The description read;


    A Soloist achieves the perfect balance of survival skills, damage and mobility. They don''t bring many benefits to a group in battle, and they are better suited to single player aspects of the game. There was more detail, but this was enough for her to get excited.


    Under the list of Soloist play styles, she saw the option of the Hunter class and selected it to see more details. The description read;


    Hunters are masters at tracking their prey and killing them from a distance. They receive special bonuses when using ranged weapons, and the most diligent of Hunters will work on their tracking and camouflage skills to get the better of their opponents. The path of the Hunter is a lonely one and patience is key for mastering this class. Some Hunters specialise in ranged weapons and shooting from a distance, others become masters of setting traps and luring their enemies into them. Finally, some Hunters dedicate themselves to taming wild beasts and have them fighting alongside them on their adventures.


    Class Stat bonuses:


    +5% agility


    +5% damage with ranged weapons


    Basic skills:


    Shoot


    Camouflage


    Tracking


    Talent Trees:


    Trapper


    Marksman


    Beastmaster


    There was more to read, but Anika felt she had already made her choice. It was the description of the play style that hooked her and she figured that if she had to do some fighting, she would much rather do so at a distance instead of up close and personal like a Rogue.


    Before continuing with her choice she flicked through the other classes in the soloist category just in case she had missed something. None of the options took her fancy which made her more confident in choosing the Hunter as her class. She made her selection and was greeted with a character screen listing items that looked like they were equipped with slots on her avatar and a breakdown of different stats below that. She paid little attention to this but was pleased that the game had provided her with some leather trousers and a leather vest. She could also see what looked like one of those traditional bows on her character screen in the weapon slot. It was all too much to take in, so she focused on the green button in the bottom right corner of her view which said Enter Game.

 Chapter 5

    After hitting the Enter Game button, all she noticed was that the view in front of her turned a pleasant blue and some soft classical music was playing in the background. A small hourglass was turning on its axis in the middle of the screen which suggested that the software was loading her character and she was about to begin. Before long the soft music faded out and all she could hear was the distant sound of birds and leaves ruffling.


    It felt as if she was lying down and it took a moment or two before her surroundings became clearer. At first, everything was fuzzy and out of focus, but her eyes adjusted just like they do when you wake up from a long sleep. She looked around and appeared to be lying on some kind of bed in a small wooden cabin. It smelled of wood, musty and damp, but through the window, she could see it was a sunny day and she could hear the birds more clearly now.


    She sat up on the bed and took in her surroundings. There was an open fireplace in the centre of the cabin with a small stove on top and a simple table with wooden chairs in the corner of the cabin. Other than that there wasn''t much in the way of furniture. It looked messy. There were lots of animal furs and what looked like hunting gear littered about the place. It was a safe guess that whoever lived here was a hunter.


    "Top of the morning to you traveller, I''m glad to see you''re awake. Didn''t think you would make it for a while but I can see you''re made of strong stuff."


    The man who spoke had entered through the open door to the cabin. She hadn''t seen him at first because she was still trying to get her bearings and was examining the items on the walls and on the floor. He was a big man, strong broad shoulders and a large belly. Despite his rugged features and scruffy black hair, he had kind eyes and everything about him seemed welcoming.


    "Thank you and good morning to you." She played along. Although he looked and acted real, she was sure he was a non-player character (NPC) controlled by the game''s AI engine. She had read about them when she was looking up the basics of the game world, but she had never expected them to be so realistic.


    "Like I said, didn''t think you would make it there for a while, was getting worried about you. It''s been two days since I found you out in the woods and just in time too, the Grizzly bears would have had you for lunch if I didn''t find you first." He put his sack on the floor and stretched his back. Wow, he was so realistic.


    "If you don''t mind me asking, where are you heading?"


    Anika thought for a few moments and had to be honest with herself, she didn''t have a clue where she was supposed to go. One thing was clear though, she was in a cabin in the woods, so she was in the wrong place.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I''m looking for my son. Do you think you can help me in the right direction? All I know is that he is a Rogue and that he plays in those tournaments."


    "A Rogue eh? Can''t say I''ve seen many of those around. But then again I don''t suppose they walk around in the forest much. A shifty bunch if you ask me, not sure how they make a living, but it ain''t always honest I can tell you that much." He pulled a face that almost showed a hint of embarrassment. It was uncanny, this character had a way of displaying real human emotions. "But if it''s your son, then I''m sure he is one of the good guys."


    "What about the tournaments? I know he fights against other characters in these tournaments. Any idea where they are held?"


    "Tournaments? Can''t say that I do. People killing each other for sport, that''s not something I''d get involved with. Don''t see the point in it myself. There''s enough killing to be done out there in the forest to keep food on the table and to keep us lot safe. Waste of time them tournaments are." He pottered around, rearranging a few things on the table and pulling out a few skins from his sack.


    Anika was frustrated, maybe there was an admin or some kind of game helper she could ask. She focused on a bar at the bottom of her vision which had several icons on it. One opened the character screen she had seen right before entering the game, another opened some more stat menus. Apart from the Logout button there didn''t seem to be anything suggesting that she could contact an admin for advice. What if there was a bug? Surely there must be a way to report things if she was having a problem? After having a look through the menus, none of which made much sense to her, she decided that she would just have to get by with whatever little information this character could offer.


    "Excuse me, is there a way to contact other players in this game?"


    "Players in the game? You must have hit your head harder than I thought. Are you sure you''re okay?" He looked at her with genuine concern. She didn''t respond. This was just getting stupid now. She needed to speak with a real human and get proper advice.


    "Sure, there are ways to send messages to other people," the Hunter continued. "The postal service doesn''t come out this far though I''m afraid, and I''m no good with those message pigeons. I hate birds, I''d rather shoot them down and eat them for dinner. I wouldn''t trust any of them with messages to my family or friends."


    "Okay, fine. Please tell me how I get to the nearest town, I will figure the rest out for myself thanks."


    "Steady on. You''ve only just woken up. It wouldn''t be responsible of me to just point you in the right direction and off you go. Let''s see you stand up, I want to make sure you are fit to fight. Once I am satisfied that you can take care of yourself, you will be free to go. But I won''t come and pick you up again if things don''t go so well."


    Before Anika had time to vent her frustrations at the Hunter, a message appeared in front of her vision.


    You have received a new quest!


    Hunter Basics: Follow the Hunter Trainer''s instructions and complete them to his satisfaction.


    Reward: Basic Abilities


    Accept Yes/No

 Chapter 6

    Anika had a feeling that accepting the Hunter Basics quest was mandatory. Even if it wasn''t, it was most likely the best thing to do. Although she was anxious to leave the cabin and go looking for her son, she knew she had a lot to learn about the game itself. This kind of quest was designed to teach her the basics. She supposed that it made sense, you couldn''t just talk to these AI characters as if they were real humans. They were there to help make the game enjoyable, you were supposed to immerse yourself in the experience and she assumed that the game had been designed to teach her everything she needed to know, if she played along.


    She accepted the quest and decided to be more patient.


    "Great. Now, first let''s see you get off that bed and walk around. It might feel strange at first, but you''ll soon get the hang of it. Once you''ve got your balance, just let me know."


    She stood up, and it felt strange. Her sense of balance wasn''t there yet, but after walking around the cabin for a minute and stretching herself, she nodded at the Hunter and told him she was ready to proceed.


    "Now let''s see you run a couple of yards. Come with me outside."


    They left the cabin and the first impression that hit her was the warm sun prickling her skin and the smell of the fresh air. Outside the cabin was a small yard with two dogs lying on the ground in the shade, lazy and happy. A perimeter was marked out by a wooden fence and beyond that there was a gentle slope leading to a small brook. It was incredibly realistic. She could hear the water running in the brook, the insects buzzing in the air and the wind in the trees. Everything was beautiful, and the colours were vivid.


    "Now, run down to that brook and splash water in your face, it''ll do you good."


    She did as he asked and made her way to the brook. She was barefoot, but the feeling of the ground underneath her feet wasn''t as painful as it might have been in real life. At the brook she cupped her hands and splashed some of the cold water onto her face and down her neck. It was refreshing and just what she needed. As she was running back, she noticed the sensation of the cold water that had trickled down her back and thought how incredible it was to be feeling that. It must be the haptic suit working overtime to stimulate the exact places on her skin in the real world. What an incredible feeling, it was so real.


    Feeling out of breath she stood in front of the Hunter with hands on her hips and nodded, hoping that he would approve and that they could get on with it.


    "Not too shabby, I can see you''ve got your legs back." He walked to the side of the cabin and pulled a long hunting bow off the wall. Pointing at her shoulder he proceeded with what would be her second challenge. "Now let''s see how you handle that bow."


    Although she couldn''t see the bow that was supposed to be hanging over her shoulder, just by focusing on its existence, it appeared in her hand. The hunter was looking at her, expecting her to do something, so she pulled the string back to look like she knew what she was doing. She had never held a bow before and was getting worried that this could take some time.


    "You''ll be needing an arrow with that." He gestured to her other shoulder where she assumed the quiver for her arrows was located.


    Once again, focusing on the imaginary arrows had resulted in one of them materialising in her hand. She had seen a couple of films in the past where these things were used, so it didn''t take long for her to guess where the arrow should be placed, but she looked to the hunter for confirmation she was getting it right. Wasn''t there just some kind of programme they could upload to give her the skills? Like in the Matrix? Or was she really supposed to learn this stuff from scratch? That could take hours.


    The hunter was shaking his head.


    "I can see we''ll be starting with the basics, whatever happened to you out there must have wiped everything you have learnt in the past out of your brain. Now listen, before I teach you to hold the bow and to shoot I want you to get your mindset right. Try to feel your shoulders they are tense right?"


    She was feeling tense and holding the bow didn''t feel natural at all. She nodded and tried to loosen her shoulders.


    "Listen up. Your target is not your enemy. Tension is your enemy. You must learn to relax because your biggest opponent will always be yourself. First you have to learn to breathe and then to relax. Once we have mastered the basics of breathing and relaxing, you will learn to shoot like a true marksman. Anyone can pick up a bow or a firearm and shoot it in the direction they want. The trick to being a skilled hunter is learning to aim and to shoot in many different conditions. You will learn how to lock onto the target, then take a deep breath and to let it out. Breathing relaxes the body and when your breath has almost gone from your lungs. That is the time to shoot. You still with me?"


    She nodded.


    "I will tell you about a five-point sequence you need to remember. This has been taught to me by an expert marksman and I never forget those five points when I am out in the wild. To help you remember, this acronym will aid you. Just remember the word BRASS, you know, like the metal."This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    He watched her mumble the word before continuing.


    "First thing. B is for breathing. Breathing is essential to controlling your body. If you forget about breathing, you can bet your bottom that your body will resist and take over control. You don''t want that. If I teach you anything today, it will be to breathe. Never forget that, especially in the heat of the moment."


    "B is for breathing. Got it."


    "Good. Next up is R for relax. Your body needs to be steady as a rock, if you don''t relax your muscles before shooting that bow, you will be guaranteed to miss. This can take years to master, and while hunting for sport can be a relaxing pastime, I don''t see your type as being someone here to collect hunting trophies. When you are in the heat of a battle, like I was many years ago in the time of the Crimson Wars, the ability to relax served me well. Ignore everything around you, the fighting, the distractions and the people dying everywhere. You have to focus on the breath leaving your body and look at your target."


    "Breathe and relax. Got it, what''s next?"


    "Now we are getting to the heart of it. A is for Aim. You may think as long as you can see your target, aiming is a simple matter, but most of the time your target is not sitting still. I can guarantee you it will not have a red circle on its back to aim for. Aiming is not a technical skill. It is intuitive, and it can only be mastered through practice and being present in the moment. Don''t calculate the trajectory your arrow will take. Instead, focus on your target and focus on the speed and direction it is moving in. Then aim where you know it will be when the arrow hits. See the arrow hitting its target. Feel it. And remember, practice makes perfect. Don''t beat yourself up when you miss. Everything you want to learn in this world will take practice. So celebrate each mistake you make because those mistakes take you one step closer to the perfect shot."


    "Breathe, Relax, Aim. I''m with you. S is for shoot?"


    "Not so quick. Brass has two S''s in it. Before you shoot, you must squeeze. S is for squeeze. I know it makes little sense because you are holding a bow, but stay with me for a moment. The common term used when shooting a firearm is to pull the trigger, just like you might pull that bow back. But I want you to think about it in terms of a gentle squeeze. No force should be used and no sudden movements ok? Try it now, squeeze that bow without an arrow knocked, just squeeze the string back towards your shoulder."


    Anika did as he asked and pulled the bow back until her fingers were almost touching her shoulder. It was tense, and she could not hold it there for more than a few seconds before the muscles in her right arm gave way. She released the string so it snapped back in place and looked at the Hunter for validation.


    "You''ll get there. Once you''ve squeezed the bow all the way back to your shoulder, you''ll be ready to shoot. Many people think all you have to do is aim and shoot. But the guidance I have provided you with will take you some way in landing that perfect shot. Now, there will be times when you might hesitate. The more preparation you do and the more ready you feel, the more fear and doubt will creep into your mind and tell you you will miss the shot. Perhaps the wind changes, perhaps your target changes direction. All of these things are telling you not to shoot and to wait for a better moment. You need to trust yourself and take the shot. The more you practice, the more honed your skills and intuition become, the more doubt and fear will present itself to you. Take my advice and always go with your gut. If you feel that analytical part of your brain talking to you, just tell it you will get right back and have a debate once you have taken the shot. You can always analyse what might have gone wrong after the fact. The simple truth of it is that if you don''t shoot, you will never know what the outcome would be."


    He stared at her for a few moments, perhaps trying to make sure that those last words had sunk in. "Now, let''s get to practice. I would ask you to spend a couple of days practising your aim on a stationary target, like one of those pumpkins on a stick here in the yard. But, something tells me you are in a hurry to leave this place, so let''s throw you straight into the deep end."


    Quest complete: Hunter Basics


    You receive experience points: 100 XP


    You have learned a new ability: Shoot


    You have learned a new ability: Camouflage


    You have learned a new ability: Tracking


    Anika was relieved that the lecture was over. Although she was eager to get moving, she didn''t mind the idea of taking a few practice shots at a pumpkin, just to make sure that everything she was told had sunk in. She noticed that the icons for her new abilities had been placed at the bottom of her view, just above the menu bar she was looking through earlier.


    "Those damn grizzly bears who almost killed you before I found you, they are a nuisance around here, and they are breeding like crazy. I need you to show me what you can do with that bow and arrow and go take care of them. If you can take down one of the matriarch''s, I''ll have a nice little bonus for you when you come back."


    New quest: A couple of Grizzly Bears


    In the woods surrounding the Hunter''s cabin, grizzly bears are causing a nuisance. Kill 10 grizzly bears and return to the Hunter trainer for a reward.


    Bonus objective: Kill a matriarch


    Reward: Experience points


    Accept Yes/No


    Anika accepted the quest. A tally showing 0/10 grizzly bears appeared under the quests title in the top right corner of her view. Underneath it, the bonus objective displayed 0/1 for the matriarch.


    "I''m glad you accepted my request for help. If you are worried about the balance of nature, just remember that these animals are breeding like crazy and they have been killing off the beautiful deer and even a couple of my hunting dogs in recent times. Taking down one of their matriarch''s will cut to the root of the problem. Before you go, remember to check your map in case you get lost. You will find the areas marked where the biggest concentration of grizzly bears can be found. And using the map, you should be able to find your way back here no problem."


    She searched for the map icon in the long bar running across the bottom of her view, found it and opened it up. The map was centred on a small image of what appeared to be the hunter''s cabin. The majority of the map was greyed out, it had no details on it, but the forest area surrounding the cabin was coloured in and it showed a couple of red circles which must be the areas the hunter had told her about. With some trepidation, she set out in the direction shown on the map, whilst trying to remind herself of the advice she had just received.

 Chapter 7

    Anika didn''t have to walk very far until the trees and brush of the forest became dense. She checked the map and realised that the further ahead she walked, more of the greyed out section of the map would get coloured in. Judging by the size of the unexplored area on her map, there was a huge amount of terrain to explore. When she could see she was getting close to one of the red circles marked out on her map, she stopped focusing on it and instead used her eyes and ears to look out for one of these grizzly bears. She could hear plenty of noises, the birds were chirping and occasionally there would be a rustle in the twigs and bushes around her.


    Before long, she spotted a large grizzly bear, but despite its size, she could see it was only level 1. It was hunched over an animal carcass of some sort, and it was only a little further down the slope from where she stood. As it was preoccupied having its lunch, she considered the distance and wondered if she could make an arrow fly as far as that. Having still not tried a practice shot, she moved closer, walking as softly as she could. When she found steady ground and a bush to crouch behind, she focused on her bow and arrow and they materialised in her hands. With any luck, she could get more than one arrow loose by the time the grizzly bear knew who was shooting at it.


    Before taking aim, she remembered what she had learned about relaxing and breathing. She relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath, then she pushed herself a little further into the bush. Although it was uncomfortable, she figured that hiding herself well in the bush would give her an advantage. Sitting there, she focused on her Camouflage skill and noticed that it activated itself. That was handy she thought, perhaps she would have time to experiment with the tracking skill as well later.


    You have gained a skill point: Camouflage 1/50


    She noticed the system message in the bottom left corner of her vision but didn''t think too much about it. It was a distraction and her only focus should be on taking a deep breath and aiming at her target. She aimed for the Grizzly bear''s head, took a deep breath in and let it out. Everything in the periphery of her vision faded out and the bear was the only thing in focus at that moment. It was as if she had a mental lock on her target. After pulling the string back as gently as possible, she let the arrow loose. It hit the bear on its back and she heard it roar in pain, then it looked up to see where the attack had come from.


    Another arrow materialised in her hand and she took aim at the bear once again. It was now looking around in pain and confusion. This time, she fired the arrow without taking a moment to think about her breathing or paying attention to any of the training she had received earlier that day. She didn''t have the same clear focus on her target like before. The arrow didn''t have enough power and landed with a thud in the ground next to the carcass where the bear was standing. The bear looked up and must have spotted her, because it set off at a brisk pace, heading straight towards her.


    Shit, she thought to herself. One more chance to get it right before this thing will be on top of me.


    She closed her eyes for a brief second and relaxed her shoulders, then took a deep breath and let it out. The bear had covered half the distance between them, so she made a quick decision to get out of her hiding place and stood up at full stretch. Aiming straight for the beast charging towards her. She tried picturing the arrow hitting its mark but was feeling the panic rising through her stomach and thought about the consequences of missing the shot. She knew she didn''t have any time to lose but there was a nagging thought which caused her to hesitate and stall for longer than she wanted. What if I miss at such close range? What if I hit the target, but the bear just keeps running, what will I do then? In the last possible moment, she let go of the bowstring and the arrow hit its mark. It went straight into the throat of the bear who fell to the floor with a loud groan.


    She couldn''t quite believe what she had just done. She had never shot a bow before today and had just taken down a huge grizzly bear by herself. In the bottom left of her vision, she saw a couple of other messages;


    Grizzly bear dies.


    Experience gained: 50


    You have gained a skill point: Accuracy 1/50


    You have gained a skill point: Accuracy 2/50


    The quest progress had also updated itself and now showed 1/10 grizzly bears. Satisfied that the bear was dead, she walked over to it and noticed that the outline of it shimmered in a faint yellow colour. As she got close, she noticed a small label that said "Loot". When she focused on it, it became highlighted, just like the other buttons in the quest dialogue had done. She knew what to do and focused harder until the button clicked.


    You receive item: [Bear Tooth]Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    The text of the item looked like a clickable hyper-link so she focused on it and a small description window popped up.


    Bear Tooth - junk item.


    The tooth of a bear, most likely a dead one.


    The bag icon in her menu bar was flashing, politely asking for her attention. She had seen it before and opened it, but there was nothing in the bag at the time. When she opened it, she saw that the bear tooth had been placed inside one slot, of which there were 12 in total. Not knowing what to do with it, she closed the bag screen and set off to find another target.


    She continued in the direction she had been going and passed the carcass that the bear had been snacking on. Then a thought occurred to her. The smell of the blood all over the ground might attract other bears or predators. Not knowing whether to continue searching, or if it was wiser to set up a small hiding place and wait for luck to strike, she checked her map to see if she was still in the right area for spotting grizzly bears. She was well inside the red circle, so she spent a few minutes getting her bearings in the surrounding area of her first kill. The hiding place she found had served her well, but she wondered if there might be a better place to hide and wait, somewhere with an escape route in case things got tricky.


    The surrounding trees were dense, so running fast in any direction was not an option. This forest was the natural habitat of these bears; she didn''t fancy her chances at being able to out-run one of them at all. What about a barricade or a trap? Trapping. Wasn''t that a skill she was supposed to have as a hunter? Wasn''t there something about trapping back when she was creating her character? She looked on the character sheet to see if there is any sign of trapping abilities. There was nothing. Her basic abilities were listed, but there was no sign of anything to do with trapping.


    As she searched the area looking for some way of protecting herself in case another bear came charging at her, she found a small ditch. With no prior knowledge of hunting or trapping, it still seemed intuitive that you could cover a trench with foliage and stand behind it. She pictured a bear landing in the ditch, perhaps being a little surprised from the fall. But that would be it. It might slow the bear down, but that was all she could hope for. If only she had some sharp sticks or knives so that the bear would at least get injured. She decided there wasn''t any time to experiment, she then covered up the ditch with branches as the first layer and long leaves scattered around the top of it. The best case scenario was that it would slow the bear down, enough for her to get another shot at it.


    You have learned a new ability: Traps


    You have received a skill point: Trapping 1/50


    Ok, so that made sense. She had learned an ability by trying something new and having a go.


    She no longer had the bush to hide behind, and there was nothing close to the ditch that would allow her to hide as before. The best she could do was to crawl under a couple of longer branches by making a small A-frame and tucking herself inside. It would be hard to move around in there and to pull the bow, but she was confident she wouldn''t be noticed. The plan was to lie quietly, get the first arrow off and then stand up for another two or three shots. She lay down and activated her camouflage ability.


    Another system message appeared in her view;


    You have gained a skill point: Camouflage 2/50


    This was good news, it appeared that every time she performed an action like camouflaging herself or shooting a bow, her skill points would increase. She wondered if this had some correlation to how successful the attempt at disguise or shooting would be. Something to figure out later.


    Two bears, about the same size as the earlier one, entered the area. Shit. Her plan did not include having to take down several bears at once. This would require at least two steady and skilful shots, one each. And then she would stand up to unleash as many as she could before they could get to her. She could deal with taking aim and shooting at a target that was unaware of her presence, but shooting at a bear running towards you was a different kettle of fish. It made sense that this was the perfect moment to keep your cool, to stay focused and relaxed, but how that was even remotely possible was beyond her. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her limbs were shaking.


    She went through the ritual of relaxation and deep breathing. Once again, aiming for the head, she let go of the first arrow. It was a good hit, somewhere on the back of the neck, but not enough for it to kill. As the bear roared and stood up on its hind legs, she knocked a second arrow and aimed at the uninjured bear. Another good shot, but again, nothing that would stop the bear in its tracks. To her surprise, neither of them had figured out where she was hiding, so she knocked the third arrow, steadied her breathing and fired it. The shaft sunk into the furry beast near its shoulder, and then she noticed the other one sniffing in the air, trying to catch her scent.


    By the time she had prepared her fourth shot. They were both roaring furiously and made their way towards her. Lying under the tent of branches would not do her any good. Her earlier idea of running away to escape seemed like a good choice. They were both injured, so she might get away. She then made a new plan to fire onelast arrow into them, and then to run for it. Hopefully, the makeshift trap she had prepared would slow them down and allow her to get away.


    Another two shots and the bears were still alive and kicking, still bellowing with rage and pain and heading straight towards her. She turned around and ran for it, but only got two yards away before she tripped and fell face down on the forest floor. It was possible that her trap had slowed at least one of them down, but by the time she got to her knees and looked around, one of them was on her. She felt an intense pain as a paw smashed into her face, then everything went dark.

 Chapter 8

    The first thing Anika noticed when her vision returned was the system messages in the corner of her view;


    You have gained a skill point: Accuracy 3/50


    You have gained a skill point: Accuracy 4/50


    You have gained a skill point: Accuracy 5/50


    You have gained a skill point: Accuracy 6/50


    You died


    Fatigue 28%


    She felt fine, but it took a few moments for her surroundings to come into focus. She recognised this place; it was the same cabin she had found herself in earlier that day. So that was what happened when you died; you returned to a safe place. But what about when she travelled further across the world? Would she always come back to this place if she died? That would be annoying.


    There were so many things she didn''t quite understand about this game, the stuff you could look up in a guide or tutorial. She hadn''t taken the time to do this before jumping straight in, but now she made a mental note to spend some time to at least learn the basics when she got the chance.


    One thing was a slight concern. What was that fatigue score and why was it at 28%? She had a look at her character screen, and sure enough above the label which said Hunter - Level 1, there was a yellow bar marked Fatigue. A helpful information box popped up when she focused on a little ''i'' next to the yellow bar.


    You will be logged out automatically when your fatigue level reaches 100%. It is not recommended to continue playing at high levels of fatigue, and we suggest that you log out of the game and return after sufficient rest.


    That all made sense. This was one of those measures that the game designers had put into place to prevent players from continuing to play beyond the limits of their physical bodies. It was also a measure that had been put into place to avoid liability over the health concerns she had been reading about. This way it seemed fair enough, at least there was some connection and warning system in case her body needed to take a break.


    But what about toilet breaks? Would she get some kind of warning about that? Perhaps the fatigue level would increase as her physical discomfort got higher. She imagined the embarrassment of having an accident in her white haptic suit and hoped that she would be given enough warning to log out and take care of business before it was too late.


    Back to the task at hand. Her quest progress still showed only one of ten grizzly bears killed, so there was more work to do. She had a mind to ask the Hunter trainer about setting effective traps, perhaps he had something sharp she could use or at least a few tricks to teach her.


    At first sight he was nowhere to be found, so she decided not to waste any time and made her way back towards the area marked on her map. When she left the cabin, she had a good view of the brook and thought she noticed someone down by the rocks. As she got closer, she saw that the Hunter was busy at work cleaning what looked to be animal hides in the water.


    "Excuse me. Do you have a few minutes to spare?" Just then she realised that she didn''t even know his name. It hadn''t seemed important until now, but she felt it was impolite not to address him by his name, even though he was just an NPC.


    "Why certainly. How are you getting on with those grizzlies?"


    "Well, I took one of them down. Then I faced two of them at once and they got the better of me." She recalled the experience to him and explained her attempts at disguising herself and the makeshift trap she had created.


    "By the way, I don''t think I caught your name earlier today. My name is Anika."


    "Ah Anika, well it''s a pleasure to know your name. I''m no good at remembering, so please forgive me if I have to ask you again. My name is Ralph."


    Anika asked him if he had any advice or tricks to share about setting an effective trap. She could see the value in being prepared for each encounter she would face and asked him if this was not a standard part of a Hunter''s toolkit. Ralph explained that many hunters did specialise in trapping but that the sophisticated tools and techniques they used were beyond her understanding for the time being. He encouraged her to learn by trying and recommended sharpening a couple of sticks and placing them in the sort of ditch she had worked out how to cover up.


    Ralph encouraged her to focus on camouflaging herself and getting the perfect shot to start with. He also suggested that tracking things in the wild would be a useful skill to develop. Apparently there was nothing to it, other than looking for tracks on the ground and following where they might lead her.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "Do you have anything sharp I can use? I''ll have a go at sharpening sticks for a trap and I could also use something to defend myself with in case running away from an angry bear is not an option."


    "Certainly. You can borrow my skinning knife, I''m done with it for the day." He handed her a small sharp knife with a slightly curved blade, it had a good weight to it and what looked like a very sharp edge.


    "I''m sorry I didn''t think of that sooner, everyone should have a blade of some sort on them at all times. Tell you what, if you do a good job with them grizzlies, I''ll let you have that knife for keeps. Deal?"


    "Thank you. I''ll try to make good use of it."


    You receive item: [Skinning Knife]


    She inspected the knife which had been placed in her bag and noticed that it had an interesting stat bonus.


    Skinning Knife - Weapon


    A curved, short blade with a sturdy handle. Often used for skinning animals.


    Damage: 22


    +5 skinning


    "Just a thought my friend. While you''re out there, try to see if you can bring me back a couple of skins. It''s hard to get a decent cut without the proper training, but I don''t have time to teach you that right now. Have a go, try to bring back large undamaged skins and I''ll buy them off you."


    Anika wasn''t sure about having a go at cutting the skin off a dead animal. It would not be easy and she doubted it would be at all pleasant. She then thanked him for his advice, equipped the skinning knife by focusing on the main weapon slot in her character sheet and set off to find the bears to complete her quest.


    She went back to the area where she had failed so miserably a short while ago. With any luck those bears would be close by and they would already be injured, so she might not have so much trouble this time around. When she arrived at the spot where her first encounter had been, she didn''t see the bears anywhere around. The carcass from earlier was still lying on the ground further away, but as far as she could tell there were no predators around.


    On the ground there was a fair amount of blood. She didn''t think it could be hers, from what she could tell she had been transported straight back to the hunter''s cabin as soon she had died. No loss of blood. This blood had to be from the bears she had injured. Then she remembered what Ralph had told her that tracking was a useful skill for her to practice. With this in mind she activated her Tracking ability, picked up the trail and followed it.


    It wasn''t easy. The drops of blood were hard to spot on the forest floor and there would often be several places where she had no idea where the trail led to. The longer she kept at it, the easier it got, and she noticed the familiar system messages in the corner of her view.


    You have gained a skill point: Tracking 1/50


    You have gained a skill point: Tracking 2/50


    ...


    Her tracking skill reached 12/50 before she spotted her first target. The grizzly bear was lying on its side, likely breathing its last breath. She couldn''t be sure if it was a danger to her or not, so she circled it to get a view from the side and decided not to take any chances. She felt she could get close without putting herself at risk, and when she was close enough, she pulled out her bow and sent an arrow straight into its skull.


    Grizzly bear dies


    Experience gained: 50


    Quest progress: 2/10 Grizzly Bears


    That was easy enough, but she knew she only had one more easy kill before she would have to take more precautions and kill an uninjured one again. Before moving on, she figured it was worth having a go at skinning the bear. As far as she could tell she didn''t have any money yet and if the skins were worth something it would be wise to get a bit of money together for her journey onwards.


    There was enough skin to get at, but it wasn''t easy figuring out how to separate the hide from the muscle and bone. It made her feel sick, cutting into an animal that had been alive only a few moments ago. She tried telling herself that it was just a game, it wasn''t real and that she would just have to grin and bear it. She eventually got a decent chunk off the old bear and placed it in her bag.


    You have learned a new ability: Skinning


    You have gained a skill point: Skinning 1/50


    Although she could have stayed and got another couple of pieces off, she figured that her primary aim was to get this quest done so she could get on with her real quest; to find her son who was out there somewhere.


    It didn''t take long for her to pick up the second trail although she had to track back quite far towards the original destination. The second bear was not much better off than the first, so she finished it off in a similar fashion. Three down and seven to go. She knew that the next encounter would have to be prepared, she was not planning on repeating the episode from earlier. This time she would prepare a ditch with some sharpened sticks and make sure she could get more than two shots off before the beasts could get to her.


    Everything went according to plan initially. She spotted a large concentration of bears on her map and scouted the area for a while before she found the perfect spot for a trap. Digging a ditch took a little while longer than she hoped, but she wanted it to be extra deep, so she used her hands and made a note to acquire a shovel for digging with at some point. She then sharpened sticks and placed them firmly in the ground before covering it up with branches and leaves.


    In front of the ditch there was quite a large clearing, so she could see any bears that approached from quite a way off. The only drawback was that if she ran in the opposite direction, she would run through thick bushes and uneven ground. Hopefully it wouldn''t come to that. She was planning to attract the attention of a bear and then make it back to her hiding place. This time she had created a small tent further away from the ditch than last time. This would allow her a few extra seconds to decide whether to keep shooting or to run for it. The only remaining challenge was how she would find her next target and get it to run in the direction she wanted.

 Chapter 9

    Anika had been scouting the area for a while, not wanting to get too far away from her carefully laid trap. She wasn''t sure if any of this was going to work, but it was the best plan she could come up with. It was certainly better than just approaching her target, firing off her best shot and hoping to be done with it. When she spotted a small bear cub she crouched down and snuck closer to see if it was alone. This could be an easy kill, but she had a feeling that bear cubs didn''t wander very far away from their family by themselves. She was tempted to take a shot. Would a bear cub still count towards her quest objective? There was only one way to find out.


    Before she could decide whether or not to risk taking down the baby bear, it made its way further away from her. She followed as quietly as she could. Hopefully, the mother was somewhere to be found and she could complete the bonus objective of taking down a matriarch. As she moved through the foliage, taking cover where she could, she noticed that she had learned a new ability;


    You have learned a new ability: Stealth


    You have gained a skill point: Stealth 1/50


    You have gained a skill point: Stealth 2/50


    ...


    The young bear cub led her to the mouth of a cave far into the woods. She was now further away from the spot she had prepared than she would have liked, but she felt she had hit the jackpot. The mother bear was surrounded by three other cubs. That made four in total if they would actually count towards her objective in spite of being so young. She looked back from where she had come and figured that she had a good idea of how to get back again. Luckily, the way back would take her through that clearing and all she would have to do was dodge the trap she had prepared. Then hope that the animals wouldn''t be smart enough to figure out what she had in store for them.


    It wouldn''t be a problem to get their attention. The question now was whether to shoot one of the cubs first or the matriarch herself. She figured that getting a good hit on one cub would result in an instant kill, so that seemed the better option. In case she ended up dying again at least she would be one bear closer to completing the quest. Depending on how the matriarch would react, she figured that she might buy herself some time by injuring or killing one of her babies.


    She lined up the shot and fired an arrow straight into the nearest cub. It only took a few seconds for the matriarch to spot her so there was no time to wait around and to figure out if she had been successful with a kill or not. It was a mad dash running back through the woods, but she got to the clearing and had enough time to get behind the trap before she spotted the matriarch pounding through the woods and into the clearing. There was no point in hiding now. She was better off standing up and focusing on her target. The breathing and relaxing came easier now although she could still feel her pulse racing and her breath out of control from all the running.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The matriarch was enraged. Anika got three arrows into her shoulders and neck, but she kept running at full speed. This was it, make or break. If the trap didn''t work, she would be in a lot of trouble.


    The trap was somewhat of a success. It slowed the matriarch down enough for Anika to take a few steps closer and aim for its head. She could count seven shafts in the matriarch''s neck and head by the time it was dead.


    Her quest progress showed 4/10 grizzly bears and 1/1 matriarch. That meant one of those little cubs did count, and that the one she shot must have died almost instantly. Her immediate thought was to find the other three little cubs, they would be easier targets than the full-grown adults she had faced earlier today. She couldn''t believe she was being so practical and heartless about things. Bear cubs were cute, they had done nothing to deserve this. She shook the thoughts out of ahead and focused on completing the quest. The longer she spent playing around in the forest, not getting anywhere, the longer her son would be stuck in that immersion pod. Who knew what damage it would do to him.


    As she made her way back towards the cave where she had first spotted the matriarch and the cubs, she checked the system messages. She had received 50 XP for the little cub and a whopping 250 XP for the matriarch. On her character sheet she could see an experience bar filling up from left to right, it showed 55%, so she was halfway to level 2 although she didn''t have a clue about the implications of that. She knew a big part of the game was to level up your character, because at max level many new areas, skills and options would be unlocked. Once again, she wished she had paid more attention to the things Ted had been talking about in the past. He had once stayed up all night to level his character and wouldn''t stop talking about it the day he reached maximum level.


    Her fatigue rating was at 60% now, so she figured that she still had time to complete the quest and get back the Hunter trainer before logging out.


    The remaining three bear cubs were not too difficult to find. They had been wandering around the area of the cave and were probably trying to find their mother. After she shot the first one from a short distance, the other two had scattered. She spent a long time trying to find them again, but was pleased to notice that her tracking skills were improving. She wasn''t sure, but she felt as if her intuition and ability to read the forest improved with each additional skill point. It was quite a gradual improvement, but thinking back to the first time she had tried to track the injured bear''s blood, she was having a much easier time finding the bear cubs now, and they had not even left a physical trail. It was as if she could spot leaves and branches that had been walked over and she followed the signs without giving them much thought. Ralph was right, this was proving to be a useful skill.


    After taking care of the remaining cubs and checking that her quest progress showed 7/10, she checked her fatigue levels again. They were now at 72%. With three more grizzly bears to go, she wasn''t sure if she was pushing her luck trying to get it all done. She was also concerned about the consequences of pushing the limits of this fatigue, and since this was the first day of playing the game, the wisest decision was to log out soon, and to get some rest. She thought it must be early evening already, but she didn''t have a watch and there was no way to check how low in the sky the sun was this deep inside the forest.

 Chapter 10

    Anika found the Logout button and was greeted with a 30 second timer. She then found a decent hiding spot before the timer hit zero, just in case she would face a predator as soon as she logged back in.


    The feeling of being back in the real world was not pleasant at all. She felt tired, hungry and needed the toilet. After taking off her visor, she pulled one of the haptic gloves off and checked the time. It was 6pm, so she had been in the game for almost 7 hours.


    All she could think about was her son who was still in one of those immersion pods. He wouldn''t have to log out like she did, those things were designed for players to stay in the game for months at a time. How on earth they solved the toilet break problem she didn''t know, but with this level of technology there was probably a simple solution to that. She had to get him out of there, because judging by how she felt after just seven hours in this out-of-body experience, she could imagine how someone would feel after several months. She took care of business, get some food and then to rent out a bed for the night. The plan was to get up bright and early the next day and get a full day''s worth of playtime in.


    There was a busy caf¨¦ in the gaming centre. She got some food so as not to waste any time before getting back into the rig after some sleep. She chose a seat after ordering her food and noticed an Everscape Online magazine on the table in front of her. Flicking through the article, she saw that there were a couple of useful guides for new players. Learning the basics of the game seemed like a great use of her time, so she spent two hours getting an idea of what to expect as a new player.


    She didn''t sleep well that night. She figured this was because she had breathed very little fresh air in the last 24 hours, and the bed itself had also not been very comfortable. This was not a five-star accommodation. Almost as a reflex, she checked her fatigue level. Then she realized, she was not in the game. How stupid could she be? After only one session in this game and it was already getting the better of her. Ted had told her once he was seeing icons and progress bars wherever he went after logging out of the game. He thought it was funny and enjoyed pretending that real life was also a game. She could see the funny side of it, but also felt uncomfortable about the power and influence this game could have on a person''s subconscious.


    Before hitting the Login button, she reminded herself of what she was supposed to be doing. If she remembered correctly, there were still three grizzly bears to kill before she could complete her quest.


    When she entered the game, she found herself in the hiding place where she had logged out.


    She put her tracking, stealth and camouflage skills to good use. When the last grizzly bear was lying in front of her with an arrow straight through its skull, she noticed with satisfaction that the quest progress showed 10/10 and that her skills had improved at a steady pace. She also had a go at skinning each of the last bears she took down, so she had something to give Ralph in case he thought it was worth a few coins.


    Accuracy: 32/50


    Tracking: 30/50


    Stealth: 15/50


    Camouflage 10/50


    Skinning 7/50


    When she made it back to the Hunter''s cabin, Ralph was feeding his dogs and greeted her with a big smile.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Welcome back my friend. Shall I take it you completed my task?"


    "Yes, and I took care of a matriarch. Job done." She smiled.


    In that moment, something brilliant and strange happened. The second she completed that last sentence, her entire view flashed in a golden colour for a split second. She felt a rush that would have been hard to describe. It was the feeling you get when someone surprises you on your birthday, a mixture of shock and happiness all at once. It wasn''t just a rush though. She also felt stronger and more confident a few moments later, it was as if she had been given an upgrade or a boost of some sort.


    Quest complete: A couple of Grizzly Bears


    Bonus objective complete: Kill a Matriarch


    Experience gained: 500 XP


    Congratulations! You have reached level 2


    "Well done my friend. That''ll reduce the nuisance for a short while, I can''t thank you enough." Ralph walked to the side of the cabin and pulled off one of the bows hanging on the wall.


    "This one is for you as a token of my appreciation. Don''t forget, I also promised you something extra for taking care of the matriarch." He then handed her a small sack and told her to try on her new rags.


    You receive item: Ralph''s Hunting Bow.


    You receive item: Leather Bag


    You received item: Hunter Trousers


    You receive item Hunter Jerkin


    You receive item Hunter Boots


    "I hope they fit, made them myself. I can''t say I''m the best at working leather, but they should help until you can find something better."


    Anika inspected her new items. Ralph''s Hunting Bow was a big upgrade compared to her previous one. It did an additional 20 points of damage and had a nice +5 agility stat bonus. It was becoming clear that agility was an important stat for hunters like her. She remembered seeing that the class bonus for hunters was extra agility, but that was as far as her understanding went at this point. Next, she took a look at her new clothes. Their armour rating was much higher than what she was wearing at the moment, so she supposed that meant she would be tougher to kill. It felt good to have boots on until now she had been running barefoot. Once she had removed the old ones and equipped her new items, she noticed that the bag they had come in was still in her inventory. She could equip it, which as far as she could tell, meant that she could carry an additional eight items with her.


    After thanking Ralph for the gifts, she remembered that she still had those skins for him.


    "Here you go, I cut these for you. Some of them are not too pretty, but I hope you can use them."


    "Let me see." He grabbed the skins and laid them out, inspecting them carefully.


    "Well, they''ll hardly make a set of bracers or gloves for the winter, but I think we can use them to patch up some of my old gear and saddle bags. I''ll take them off you for five silver. That''s the best deal you will get on this side of the forest."


    She would not haggle or argue with him. Five silver was five more than she had before, so she took the coins and shook his hand to seal the deal. With her new gear and money in her pocket she was eager to get going, but from what she had read in the articles the previous evening, she would be stuck with her class trainer until level 4. A little tip she had paid attention to, when she was reading the articles the previous night, was to always ask these non-player characters if they needed help with anything, that would often unlock extra quests which would provide the experience points she needed to level up.


    "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" He seemed preoccupied with the bearskins and didn''t answer.


    "Ralph, do you have any work for me?" He looked up.


    "Work? Well yes, there''s plenty of work to do around here. Take your pick." He chuckled and gave her a little wink. "But I don''t think you came here to work for me did you? Since you ask, I feel it is my duty to prepare you for your travels ahead. Once you leave this little paradise of mine, you will no doubt wander straight into trouble. I want you to be prepared for the worst, so let''s see how quickly you can learn to survive in the wild."


    New quest: Gnome Survival


    Reward: New abilities & Experience points


    Accept Yes/No

 Chapter 11

    Anika was pleased to be given another quest, so she accepted it immediately. The only other alternative, which some players had tried in the past, was to venture out and kill all the critters and beasts they could find until they had reached a high enough level to exit their starting area. She had full confidence that completing the quests as they were given would be the quickest way of levelling up.


    "You''ve already proven your skill with that bow, so I''m not concerned if you should cross another predator. However, defending yourself against wildlife is not the only key to survival. There will be times when you get injured, either from battle or from a careless tumble on the ground. Most cuts and bruises will heal over time as long as you bandage them and give yourself some rest. Your first task is to get yourself some cloth, then I''ll teach you the art of first aid."


    "Okay. And where do you recommend I go to find cloth?" As she finished the sentence, she remembered that quest objectives would be shown on her map, so she didn''t even wait for him to explain before she was studying it and figuring out the best route to take."


    "The best place I can think of would be down by the Gnome Hills. It shouldn''t take you long to get there, I would spare you a horse for the task, but I don''t think you have learnt to ride one yet. Best for you to go on foot." He put his arm over her shoulder and walked her down towards the brook.


    "Just follow this brook until you get to the edge of the forest, then head due north until you see the little hills in the distance. Now, a quick word about them gnomes. Keep your wits about you, they are not fond of strangers, and they hate humans like us more than anything else."


    Anika took a deep breath and sighed. "Gnomes. Like, real gnomes? The little things, made of clay? Things that sit in the garden to look pretty?" She was trying not to sound sarcastic, it would be lost on him anyway.


    Ralph looked at her, puzzled. "They are little things. Similar to dwarves. They are short and they have beards but that is as far as the comparison goes. Never mind how they look, they are vicious little creatures. What you are after is their hats. Best source of quality cloth for miles around. The males wear red hats and the females wear green hats, not that there is any difference, they are all made of the finest quality. They love their little hats, so don''t expect to get your hands on any without taking care of them first, if you know what I mean?"


    "Okay. I think I know where this is going. How much cloth should I bring back?" Once again she had asked the man a question without checking that she had the answer available. Surely enough, when she checked the quest objective it showed 0/20 cloth, so she had her answer.


    "Just bring back 20 pieces, that should be enough for a couple of different bandages and a few to keep for your onward journey."


    ...


    They had reached the brook by now, but before they said goodbye, he gave her a handful of apples and told her to save them for when she was injured. She inspected the items in her inventory and found that these apples were good for more than just snacking on.


    Apple - Consumable


    A shiny red apple with a random chance of a worm inside, depending on the season


    Generates 50 health over 30 secondsHelp support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    As Anika was making her way out of the forest towards her destination, she was paying attention to how moving over small obstacles and jumping over shrubs and branches felt. She was lighter on her feet and always landed with a good sense of balance after taking a long stride. She had a feeling that this wasn''t due to wearing a new set of boots, it was due to the increased agility points she received from her new trousers. It was incredible how this small increase in stats had such a noticeable feeling as she moved through the virtual world.


    When the hills were in sight, she slowed her pace and tried to think back on what Ralph had told her about the gnomes she was about to face. If they were fierce little creatures, she wondered what her best plan of action should be. Her height could be an advantage. Being small targets, they might be hard to hit with her arrows. If they were anything like the garden gnome statues back in London, couldn''t she just kick them until they died? That might be too optimistic, but time would tell.


    She had arrived over grassy fields, but could see that up ahead the fields had now turned into large square patches of tilled earth. Many of the patches looked to well tended and most had vegetables of different kinds growing in them. She headed for a group of fruit trees to her right to stay concealed. From there she moved close enough to a couple of the gnomes to inspect them. The ones she could see all ranged from level one to three.


    She could also tell from their health bars they had between 100 and 140 health points each. Perhaps there was a way of calculating how many shots it would take her to kill each one? She knew the damage from her bow was 42, so with no additional bonuses to damage, most of them would go down after three arrows. One or two of the tougher ones might take four. Her main concern was that they would call out to the others and that she would be overwhelmed. Ideally, she could dig a ditch big enough for several of them and play the same trick she had done with the grizzly bears in the forest. That would take time, she still didn''t have a shovel or anything to dig with.


    It was fortunate that the little gnomes were walking around with the tool she needed to complete her plan. She picked her target, a small bearded gnome working with a shovel, digging at the ground beneath him, blissfully unaware of her presence. After pulling out her bow and knocking an arrow, she felt confident in taking down this little man with a few steady shots.


    He didn''t die straight away, but with a shaft straight through the back and a few confused steps he keeled over. Anika thought to herself that there must be some serious damage bonuses applied to her shot. The base damage of 42 would not have been enough by itself, but her first shot was enough to reduce the gnome''s health by at least 95%. The remaining 5% drawn from loss of blood in the last few seconds of his life.


    She was lucky that he hadn''t screamed or been able to call out for help, then she would have been in trouble. The next step was for her to collect her first red hat and she if she could get hold of his shovel. She would have to make her way over the open vegetable patch, so she got down on all fours and crawled to loot her kill.


    You receive item: Gnome Hat


    You receive item Gnome Shovel


    You receive item: Five Copper


    After looting the corpse she inspected the shovel.


    Gnome Shovel - Weapon


    A sturdy shovel used by gnomes to dig the earth. Also used as a tooth pick by Orcs.


    Damage: 15


    She returned to take cover in the fruit trees. Then she pulled out the shovel and was disappointed to see that the head of it was not much bigger than her hand. Deciding that it was much better than using her fingers, she got to work and started digging. Her plan was to make a ditch that would be large enough for five of the little creatures, but she stopped by the time it was half as big as she originally intended. It was just taking too long. If she had all the time in the world, she would have made it bigger. She would also have prepared some sharp sticks so that anybody falling through would at least get injured, but she didn''t feel she had the time. Taking down that first gnome had given her confidence that using the bow and arrows would be sufficient for her to complete the quest and get back to Ralph before the end of the day. After covering up the ditch with branches from the trees, she went ahead in search of her next target.

 Chapter 12

    Anika found a gnome working by himself in a field. This one was level 2, and he was working with a pitchfork, spreading hay in neat little rows, working his way to where she was standing. She would let him come closer before starting the attack. There were other gnomes in the adjacent fields, but she reckoned that a carefully aimed shot, like the one before, would be the best plan once again.


    She lined up a shot, fired it off and saw it sunk deep into the gnome''s shoulder. He dropped his pitchfork, grabbed at the shaft and screeched louder than she thought was , possible. It was a terrible noise as loud and as shocking as a police siren combined with a disgusting gurgling tone. This wasn''t going to plan. Although his health bar had dropped below 50%, he had now caught the attention of a few other gnomes who came running to see what was going on. After a few seconds of confusion, two of them pointed at her. They came running as fast as their little legs could carry them waving pitchforks and other gardening implements above their heads.


    She hadn''t planned on luring them into her trap because this one was supposed to be a single kill. The trap was some way behind her and there was no way for her to get there without missing an opportunity to shoot at her targets first. She stayed in the shadow of the trees and wanted to see if she could get all of them injured before they reached her. Then she would have the option to either run off into safety, or figure something else out. At the back of her mind she pictured herself taking a big swing and giving one of the little things her boot. Could it be so hard to just kick these things to death?


    There were four gnomes in total, but the first one she had injured was hanging back, so her first shot was aimed at the middle one of the three that were charging straight at her. It felt rushed, and she forgot to relax, but luckily the three gnomes were running close together. A shot that would have missed the middle gnome hit the one on the left squarely in the chest. She wasn''t sure if that was enough to kill him because her focus was on the other two. Another arrow sunk into her original target but they both kept coming. Very soon they were so close it seemed pointless to continue shooting. She pulled out her skinning knife and got ready to give them both a good kicking.


    They were running so fast it was hard to judge a good kick; she had never been any good at sports in school, so it was no surprise she missed the first one. The angry gnome jumped straight at her, and managed to cling onto her right thigh, almost at waist height. The momentum and the shock of having one of the creatures on her leg made her stumble back a few steps. She could feel pain as the gnome''s tool dug into her side in a snappy stabbing motion.


    She got one hand on his face and tried to rip him off while digging her blade into his back. At that point she had another one stuck to her left leg, this one was having a go at stabbing her with a much sharper tool. The first one she was struggling with fell to the ground and despite being hindered with the one on her left leg she landed the kick she had been waiting for. The little gnome flew about five feet away from her and landed with a tiny thud. After that she knelt down to deal with the one stabbing her in the thigh. Her sharp blade found its way to his neck, and she pushed it through with a satisfying slice after which his health bar dropped to zero.


    The first gnome she had injured had been watching the fight. Seeing that she had got the better of his friends he turned around, continued his screeching sound, and ran as fast as he could away from her. Between them she saw the other gnome who was looking injured, he had also decided to turn around and run. Anika thought it was unwise to outrun them because she would most likely end up in an area where more of them could be found. She lined up a shot and took aim at the one that was furthest away. It was a tiny target, and despite feeling stressed that she may only have one chance to hit it, she could relax and focus on taking a deep breath and a carefully aimed shot. She caught him in the back and noticed from the XP gain in her system messages that the shot was successful. The last one was hardly running, so the shot was easier. Before long she had looted all four gnomes and returned to the safety in the shade of the fruit trees.


    Anika wasn''t sure if that had been a close call or not. They were fierce little creatures, just like Ralph had warned her, but the size of them meant that she felt in control the whole time. On reflection, they had chipped away almost half of her health, and done some damage to her new trousers, so she supposed that it had been quite a close call after all. This seemed like a good time to try one of her apples. She pulled one out of her inventory, polished it to a shine on her sleeve and took a bite. It was tasty and fresh. Probably one of the nicest apples she had ever had, but then again she wasn''t into fruit. It was amazing how the game could replicate the taste of real food and she wondered what other treats might be available for her to try out. Not only was the apple very enjoyable, but as her health bar filled up due to the regeneration buff from the apple, she could feel her body getting nourished and the lingering pain from her wounds disappearing over the course of the duration.


    Feeling refreshed and good as new, apart from a few rips on her trousers, she went off in search for the remaining targets. She had already checked her inventory and realised that a couple of them must have had a spare hat in their pockets. So far she had killed five gnomes and was only expecting to have looted five hats. There were eight in her inventory and the quest objective showed 8/20 gnome hats completed so far.


    Not wanting to repeat the situation she had just been in, allowing a gnome to call out for help and attract the attention of others, she scouted the fields from the safety of the fruit trees until she found another loner or two at the most. Trouble was, there was none to be found. She found a few small groups of three or four gnomes working together, all of the ones working by themselves were too far away. She would have to cross open ground to get to any of them. At the end of the line of trees, she gave up hope of finding an easy target to pick off. She thought that if she was going to prepare for another mob to come charging at her, she would have to dig another ditch and make a trap. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    It took a while before she found the perfect spot. She decided on digging a hole by the trunk of a tree, where there were already some bushes that would hide the trap easily. Her plan then was to climb the tree, allowing her to shoot from relative safety.


    Everything was going well so far. The ditch was so deep that the gnomes would have trouble getting out of it with no help and she had found herself a steady branch to sit on in the tree with a good view of her targets. The group she had targeted comprised three gnomes, all level two, but there was a fourth one not too far off. Judging by what happened last time, she figured there was a great chance this one would be dragged into the fight.


    Her first two arrows took a good chunk of her their health bars away. As she predicted, they all screamed and ran at her, bringing the fourth one that was further away with them. What she hadn''t counted on, was that as they got closer, the leaves on the tree in front of her was obstructing her view. She couldn''t get another shot off. She looked down and saw that there would be no way of her getting another attack in before they were in the ditch she had prepared. Hopefully they would all fall in it and she could pick them off one by one at close range.


    The first one to arrive fell straight into her trap. He squealed even louder than the earlier one, but was silenced by an arrow to the throat. The others however, seeing what just happened to their friend, were not stupid enough to follow him into his grave. They moved around the tree, behind her, and before she could manoeuvre enough to be facing them, they had somehow propped a ladder against the tree trunk and were almost upon her, pitchforks in hand. She still had a height advantage and would only have to fight one of them at a time.


    She pulled out her knife once again, just in time to do damage to the first one. He had launched himself from the ladder and was following the same fighting style as the other ones, hugging her leg and stabbing with his tools. A second one launched itself at her and she was once again fighting off two little gnomes, fierce with rage and sharp implements. One of them dropped to the floor as she cut into his arms, but when the last one from the ladder hurled itself at her, she lost her balance and they all tumbled down onto the ground, straight into the ditch she had prepared.


    She was now in what could best be described as a miniature fighting pit. Her health bar was getting close to 50% but the other gnomes were injured as well. It was all very confusing, and the fall had knocked the wind out of her. The best she could do was slash manically at the creatures, trying her best to finish the ones that were most injured.


    After a less than glamorous fight she dusted herself off and looted her victims.


    This time she only got one hat off them each, so the total was now 12/20 gnome hats. A couple of them also had apples with the same health regeneration buff as the ones she was already carrying. Apart from an additional 25 copper coins there was no added reward for her close call with death. She studied her experience bar and was pleased to see that fighting those gnomes had taken her to 75% of her level, not far to go until level 3.


    ...


    It didn''t take long for her to acquire the remaining hats, so before long she was making her way back to the hunter''s cabin. When she was sure to be out of danger she checked her character sheet to get an idea of her skill progression. Accuracy, Camouflage and Stealth had all improved which was a welcome sight. She was interested to note she had learned a new ability: Climbing; and gained a few skill points in the process, she must have missed it when she was busy planning the attack from her tree hideout.


    Climbing the tree hadn''t been an issue, it was something she loved doing as a kid. But she supposed that finding the right tree and climbing further into the branches would need higher skill levels. She also wondered if increased agility would impact this particular skill. It made sense to her that any bonus, such as agility, would always have an impact on skills such as climbing and stealth and the ability to stay camouflaged.


    Anika arrived back at the hunter''s cabin and found Ralph sitting inside putting logs under his stove.


    "Welcome back. I can see you have arrived in one piece, despite some damage to your new trousers..."


    "You were right about the gnomes, they were fierce. Still, here are the 20 hats you asked for."


    Quest complete: Gnome Survival


    Experience gained: 400 experience points


    Congratulations! You have reached level 3


    She felt another rush as before. After seeing her vision flash in that pleasant orange glow, she thought she could feel her skin prickling, and the increased stats made her feel stronger, more focused and alert. She checked her character screen and saw that each of the base stats had improved by one.


    "Good work. Let me finish lighting the fire and I''ll meet you outside to show you how we make those bandages."


    They spent a good hour sitting in the sunshine talking about the various cuts of cloth that could be made, and how to tie them over different parts of the body, depending on where the injury was. He taught her how to stop bleeding and how to make a sling for her arm in case she was unfortunate enough to get a sprain or a broken bone.


    When it was her turn to try, she picked up the basics and was awarded a new skill: First Aid. After a few failed attempts her skill had reached 12/50 and she could place a handful of neat bandages in her bag for future use.

 Chapter 13

    When Anika logged out of the game, she became aware of her limbs; they hurt. Her body was aching, and she felt extremely uncomfortable. She wondered if it might be worth playing the game in shorter bursts, or at least log out for a few breaks now and then. There was no real pain or tiredness inside the game, only that yellow bar showing her the fatigue levels. She might have taken it easier if she was just there to relax and to have a break from work and real life. But it didn''t take any reminders for her to know exactly why she was putting herself through this. This was her second day of playing, and she hadn''t even made it out of the starting area.


    Before heading off to bed she did some further reading about the Hunter class, and to see if tomorrow might be the day where she could finish the initial training and make some actual progress. She was almost level 4, so it would soon be time for her to choose a specialisation. All classes in the game had to specialise once they hit level 4 and hunters had three options available to them. Once the path had been chosen, it looked like you would receive so-called talent points, which would unlock additional stat bonuses and new skills along the way. Even within a certain path there were many ways to allocate points. This meant that not all hunters had the same skill-set and could play different roles with different strengths and weaknesses.


    The first one she read about was the Marksman. This one was purely focused on improving accuracy and the damage from shooting with firearms. It looked like the training mission itself wasn''t too hard. The trainer would teach you some special abilities that, with the right talent points, could guarantee you would hit your target 100% of the time.


    The next one she had a look at was the Trapper. A Trapper was an expert in stealth and laying traps. There was an emphasis on abilities to do with close hand combat and how to finish an enemy once it had been incapacitated or injured in a trap.


    The last path was the Beastmaster. This branch of the talent tree was all about taming beasts in the wild. Certain creatures could be tamed using a training collar and they would become the Hunter''s companion. She saw screenshots of hunters from various races, all proudly displaying the wild beasts they had tamed and there were discussions about where to go to find the special ones and how to tame them.


    She looked up from her computer screen and tried to think which of the three paths would help her in her quest. She still didn''t have a good idea of the challenges she would face, but she had a feeling it would involve travelling far in the virtual world in search of her son. All the hunter paths had their merit, but the final part of the guide she had read felt like the most attractive. The fact that she could get a companion to do most of the fighting would keep her alive for longer, it would also mean she had some company along the way.


    When she logged back into the game again the next morning she was relieved to be back. She hadn''t slept well, and her body was stiff and tired when she was eating her breakfast. The moment she was inside the game, she felt perfect.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    She walked outside to find Ralph and had a mind to ask him when she could start with the Hunter training. He was busy, as per usual, feeding his dogs and tidying up around the stables.


    "Good morning Ralph. I was wondering when you might teach me how to specialise as a Hunter. From what I have learned, Hunters typically specialise in one of several paths. Is that right?"


    "You catch on quick, my friend." He hesitated for a moment as if preparing what to say. "I can see you are eager to learn more from me and to leave this place in search of adventure. However, the training I have in store for you is usually reserved for young Hunters with more experience." He looked at her with slight pity in his eyes as if he understood how she was feeling and how she might react to his words.


    "I understand. In that case, is there anything I can help you with today?"


    His eyes lit up, and he looked pleased that she had asked the question. "There is. I have been up since the crack of dawn taking care of the animals. Haven''t sat down and had a meal yet. I would be grateful if you could catch me another load of salmon and cook it up just like yesterday. In fact, if you stay here for a while, you don''t even have to ask. I''ll be grateful to have a meal cooked for me with local ingredients every day." He looked at her and blushed ever so slightly.


    New quest (Daily): Cook a meal for Ralph


    Ralph''s belly is always rumbling. Cook him a meal with fresh fish or meat up to once a day.


    Reward: 500 XP


    That shouldn''t take too long, Anika thought to herself. She hadn''t used all the salmon from yesterday, so she figured she could just use the leftovers and some of the herbs that were still in her bag. To her surprise, she realised that the fresh salmon she had in her bag was no longer fresh. The label and item description made it clear to her that keeping fresh fish in her bag overnight was not a good idea. She could even smell it as she pulled the [Rotting Fish] out of the bag. It was disgusting, but the dogs enjoyed it.


    There was no way around it, no shortcuts. She would have to get back to the brook and start from scratch. Still, it could be worse and after doing a bit of napkin math she figured that those 500 experience points would get her to level four.


    After catching about 10 fresh salmon and cooking it up with some herbs, she anticipated the rush she would get from gaining a level again. If only there was a way to bottle that feeling or to replicate the experience in real life, somebody could become rich she thought to herself. Then she realized they had something very similar in the real world although she had never mixed with the types who used recreational drugs. This must be what it felt like though, a sense of euphoria from taking a hit and an addicting one at that.


    She completed the quest and reached level four, and when checking her increased stats she also noticed something she hadn''t seen before. For each level she had gained so far, she had talent points available. After searching for a few minutes, she couldn''t find out what to do with these unspent talent points. Hopefully that would become clear once she had gone through the Hunter training she was about to discuss with Ralph.

 Chapter 14

    Ralph was tucking into the salmon stew Anika had prepared. She tried talking to him but he was absorbed by the food and didn''t pay any attention to her.


    "Ah, that was a fine meal. You would make a promising chef I can tell you that."


    "What about my Hunter training? Do you think I''m ready now?"


    After studying her for a few moments, he licked his fingers and wiped them on his trousers. He stood up and told her to follow.


    "Your training with me is coming to an end. This is the point where you have a choice to make, all I ask is that you consider this carefully because it is not a choice that can be unmade. We Hunters have access to a wide variety of skills, some of which you have already learned, and all that remains is for you to master them."


    "Now, I don''t want you to get me wrong. I don''t want you to think that specialising in a certain path will prevent you from enjoying the other aspects of being a Hunter. But I''m getting ahead of myself, let me start by explaining the options you have before you."


    He picked up a rifle and showed it to her. It looked heavy, and it had some very interesting modifications, one of which looked like a scope for aiming through and the other was some sort of canister.


    "As a Marksman, you will specialise in firing all kinds of ranged weapons. With enough training you could take down the smallest rabbit from the furthest distance and some of the largest beasts in the outside world, all by using the right tools for the job. Being a marksman is not just about having the best aim, often it is about understanding your weapons and using them to their full advantage in the right situations. The badge of honour for a Marksman is to set up and prepare the shot so that the target goes down in one hit. Think about that for a while."


    He gave her the rifle so she could take a look and have a go at aiming through the scope. It was too heavy for her, and she could only imagine what the recoil would be like when it was fired.


    "If being a Marksman is not your thing, you might consider being a Trapper. Trappers have an intimate relationship with their environment, more so than other Hunters. They can create a web of traps and distractions, guiding their prey into the perfect spot for them to make the kill. You might think trapping is only useful for animals and beasts in the forest. Perhaps you think humans and other races in the kingdom would be too clever to walk into a Hunter¡¯s trap. Let me tell you this, the perfect trap is often laid close to the more obvious one. So you see, decoys and distractions are also a part of the Trapper''s toolbox. As with the Marksman specialisation, you will still have access to some of these skills as you progress and perhaps take up training with other Hunters in the kingdom. But to excel as a Trapper you will find that often there is little need to ever fire a weapon to take down your target."


    "Finally, let me tell you about becoming a Beastmaster. This is a path that requires a great deal of dedication and sacrifice, but the rewards are worth it. You will learn to tame a wild beast, and with some effort I can teach you how to train the beast to fight by your side. Now, don''t go thinking you can abuse the beast or run it into its own death to save your skin. A Beastmaster puts the health and well-being of his or her companion before their own. Over time, a bond of loyalty will develop between the two of you. You will find that by putting your companion¡¯s needs above your own, a loyal beast will stay by your side and fight for your cause until its last breath. Something else to keep in mind is this; the more time you spend with your companion, the more attuned you will get to their senses."The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Anika had decided, but she still took time to think for a while. It wasn''t because Ralph had said anything new, she understood the main strengths and weaknesses of the three paths. Her decision to think it over once again had more to do with how momentous the decision felt. She wasn''t sure if she would regret it but choosing Beastmaster still seemed like the best choice.


    "I would like to choose the path of the Beastmaster."


    You have chosen specialisation: Beastmaster


    Accept Yes/No


    After she accepted her specialisation, she was greeted with a new page on her character profile. It listed the entire progression tree of the Beastmaster and showed her she had four talent points to spend. The only talents and abilities available to her were listed as Tier 1. Although at first she thought it would be impossible to read through them all and choose, she realised that she only had three choices to begin with, the rest were greyed out and required her to spend further talent points before they would unlock.


    Expert Trainer 0/3


    Beast Insight 0/3


    Improved Speed 0/3


    The Expert Trainer talent improved her chances of taming a beast in the wild. It would also increase the bond of loyalty between her and a companion. With only four points to spend, she read further before committing to any of the options.


    Beast Insight was a talent that would allow her to become more attuned to her companion. Spending points in this talent would enable her to understand the needs of her companions to a higher degree than normal.


    Finally, she read the description for Improved Speed. This one was easier to understand, it meant that she could move faster if she had a companion by her side.


    She didn''t have a clue what talent choices to make, improved speed seemed an obvious choice because moving faster would always be an advantage. At the same time she felt she didn''t have enough information to make a wise decision.


    "A Beastmaster, eh? Well, let''s get you started with the first requirements."


    He walked over to the stables where his dogs were playing and picked up a large leather collar.


    "You''ll be needing this. First, let me tell you how it works. This is a training collar, you can use it on many animals, but there are some who are immune to its effects. Now, it may sound like a simple task, because all you have to do is get this thing around the neck of your future companion. The trick is to get this done without first hurting the beast. It''s not possible to just sling this thing around its neck after having beaten it half to death. Best for it to be unaware of your presence, too much aggravation or animosity towards you and the chances of being successful will be very slim. If a beast thinks you are trying to hurt it, it will resist. Try to find ways of gaining its trust or at least distract it before you get the collar out."


    You receive item: Training Collar


    You have learned a new skill: Tame Beast


    "Thank you." Anika remembered some of the tamed beasts she had seen in the Hunter guide the previous day. They had all been fierce-looking creatures. How on earth was she supposed to go about getting a collar around an animal without it either running away or attacking her on site? There were some tricks of the trade, but from what she had read, she also knew Hunters would spend hours tracking and attempting to tame their companions. The more wild and fierce the creature, the more preparation and skill was needed.


    "Do you think I could have a quick go at practising with one of your dogs? I want to be sure I know how to use this thing before I try it for real."


    "In principle, I would have no problem with that. The problem is that my dogs have already been tamed and they are loyal only to me. That thing won''t work on mine or any other Hunter''s pets. Wild creatures only. If you need a bit of practice before we put your skills to the test, I recommend that you have a go with one of the smaller creatures running around the woods. Rabbits can be hard to catch but I''m sure you can manage one pheasant. If you are lucky to find one, an owl taking a nap during the day might also be an easy one. How about we meet here first thing tomorrow morning, I want you to have a companion with you, then I''ll show you how to train it to fight by your side."

 Chapter 15

    Anika spent the rest of the day making sure she understood how to use the training collar, and to find a way of approaching a wild animal without upsetting it.


    She hadn''t left the area surrounding the cabin before she spotted a chicken. How hard could it be to catch one of those? She got out the leather collar and did her best to sneak up on it. It turned out to be a lot harder than she had thought. The chicken was on constant alert and spotted her as soon she was a few yards away from it. Out of frustration she chased it down, pinned it to the ground and placed the collar around its neck. The collar was clearly designed for larger animals, despite being adjustable. Her first try had not worked. The chicken just sat there, squashed underneath her knee, flapping, and with the collar on there seem to be no change, no bond between them. She wasn''t sure if the attempt had failed because she had scared the chicken, or because the collar was way too big for it.


    Her next target was a beautiful pheasant. Although she couldn''t see an animal like this being much of a ferocious companion, she wanted to see this taming collar working. There was no way to approach the pheasant without scaring it off, she was worried that this attempt would be no different from her try with the chicken. Then she realized she could lure a beast like this into a trap by finding bait and being ready in the right place to get close enough with the collar. Now, what did these things eat? She figured that worms would be a good thing to try to started digging up the soil where she was standing to find a few.


    You receive item: Slimy Worm


    One worm would not do it though. She would have to leave a trail of these things from an open area, like the one she had spotted the pheasant in, leading it to a more dense part of the forest. From there she could hide and get close enough when the time was right.


    Her fingers were sore and completely filthy when she had dug up 10 worms in total. Then it was time for the second part of her plan. She left a trail of worms from an opening in the forest, with some distance to the next one. They all lead into a small hedge of bracken where she was confident she could avoid being seen. It wasn''t long before several pheasants found their way to her bait and she watched with pleasure as they bickered and scrapped over the free food she had placed for them.


    Her camouflage skill had reached 21/50 at this point and she noticed not only how much easier it was for her to blend in with her surroundings, but her ability to spot a suitable hiding place was also much better than before. It was as if she knew intuitively where to go and how to cover herself up.


    When three large pheasants had made their way to the last part of her trail, she felt hesitation, not knowing which one to go for. They hadn''t noticed her, but she felt it wouldn''t be long before they realised there were no more worms to eat and she would miss her opportunity. The hesitation almost lost her the chance to collar one of them. She felt that the analytical part of her brain was holding her back, much like Ralph had warned her about when he first taught her to shoot with her bow. There was one chance, and she had to take it.


    The pheasant didn''t see her coming. In the blink of an eye she was on top of one of them, training collar at the ready. She swung it around the pheasant''s neck like a lasso whilst pinning it down to the ground. It felt as if the training collar tightened itself around the creature''s neck; she didn''t need to adjust the length at all. There was something special about this collar, despite it feeling like any normal leather collar would. When the situation had calmed down, the other pheasants had fled and she was left alone with her target who was sitting quietly without struggling under her knee but breathing heavily. She decided that there was only one way to tell if this had worked, so she released her pressure and grip on the pheasant and stood up to see what would happen.


    You have tamed a beast: Pheasant


    She had done it. Although she wasn''t expecting a hug, she was surprised that the pheasant was just standing there. It wasn''t looking at her or paying her much attention; it stood there as if it didn''t have a purpose in life. Wasn''t she supposed to be able to give this thing a command? Wasn''t there supposed to be a spiritual bond between them that would allow her to see through its eyes or feel what it felt or something? A flashing icon in the bottom of her view came to her attention. She clicked the icon which brought up a character sheet for her pet.


    Common Pheasant


    Damage: 15


    Skills: None


    Diet: Roots, Berries, Worms, Insects


    It gave some more details about its stats and she noticed empty slots underneath the main stat window which looked like they were reserved for special skills or commands. Another thing she noticed was a yellow bar above the description and name of the companion; loyalty 5%.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    There was so much she still didn''t know about this game. She was tempted to log out just so she could read up on what she was supposed to do with her new companion. How to increase its loyalty and how to teach it some new skills. The only thing that made her decide not to log out, was the anticipation of that feeling she would have back in the real world. She knew she would be greeted with a sore back, hunger and a desperate need to go to the toilet. At the moment her fatigue levels had only just gone past 50% so she wanted to stay logged in where everything felt good and where she realised she still had work to find a proper companion before returning to Ralph in the morning.


    Anika continued into the woods in search of a beast that would put up more of a fight. Her pheasant followed a few steps behind her wherever she went, and apparently that was all it was good for. It occasionally went looking for food when she took a break to scout her surroundings but it followed and caught up with her when she made a move again. She wondered what would happen if she didn''t increase its loyalty to her, would it just run away? And what about getting rid of it when she found a better prospect for a companion?


    She knew she needed to find a real predator. What good was a pheasant going to do her at any part of the journey? The main predators she had come across were bears but there was no way she would have a go at wrestling the training collar on one of those.


    She needed to find something smaller, but apart from the odd fox or badger, she didn''t have a clue what she could find. After finding a hole in the ground that was used as a den for some kind of animal, she used her tracking ability to follow its trail. She was so consumed by looking at the track she was following she didn''t realise she had walked straight into a clearing and was within a short stone''s throw of two young grizzly bears.


    The grizzlies roared and stood on their hind legs the moment they saw her, her pheasant ran away at once. She instinctively pulled out her bow and took aim at one of them, but she had been caught by surprise and knew they could cover the distance to her in a heartbeat. She would most likely end up dying if she tried to stand her ground. Shit, she thought. Then she turned on her heels and ran straight back the way she had come with the bears close behind her.


    The forest was getting thicker, but she didn''t fancy her chances of hiding from them. Her best escape would be to get into a tree where they wouldn''t be able to reach her. They were almost caught up with her before she found a tree with low enough branches for her to climb up. There weren''t enough branches for her to get very high but she could get high enough to be just out of reach. There she sat for a while, catching her breath, as the bears tried to get at her from a few different angles. One of them gave up with a dissatisfied growl and wandered off, but the other one looked like it was having more fun. It was testing its jump and having a go at slapping her off the branch. She knew she was safe, but how long it would take before the grizzly bear got bored and went away she didn''t know.


    The light was fading when she considered logging out for the night. She wasn''t sure if this was a good place or not. There was every chance that the bear would return to its own nest or cave by the time she logged back again in the morning.


    She took one last look at the bear who was keeping her prisoner before opening her options menu to find the log out button. It didn''t feel right. Although her fatigue level was getting close to 70% she still felt as if she had unfinished business and that logging out now would be a wasted opportunity. The grizzly bear would be a perfect companion. It was right underneath her, and right this minute it wasn''t paying her any attention. She figured it had got tired and bored, but for some reason it was not returning home.


    It gave her butterflies, but she decided to find a way of getting that training collar around the neck of the grizzly bear. At first she thought how she might dangle the collar low enough by using some combination of hanging upside down and stretching her arms low enough to reach it. Then she conjured an image of herself hanging there, right before she was torn to bits when the bear realised what she was doing. In the end, she decided that dropping down on top of the beast, although less elegant, was probably the most effective solution. There was less room for error and she would hopefully get the collar on before it even knew what was happening.


    Very slowly she climbed further out onto the branch, taking every care that she didn''t break any of the smaller twigs or draw attention to herself. She swung her leg over and could see she would need to vault herself two feet into the air before she would drop to land straight above it. With the training collar ready she hesitated again. This was a daring move, and it felt like life or death for her. A small thought in the back of her mind told her it was just a game and that if she died she could just return and find some other way. There was no mistaking the feeling she was experiencing though. The rational part of her brain had a voice, but it was faint compared to the fear and excitement she felt on top of the adrenaline that was rushing through her veins at that point.


    With a slight push, using both of her hands, she vaulted herself into the air and landed on the grizzly bear where she had planned. She grabbed a chunk of fur on its neck and tried lowering the collar over its head. The shock of being attacked from above had caused the bear to jerk its head and look around. She was eye to eye with the beast for a split second, but it was a moment that seemed to last for minutes. There was a look of confusion and anger in the bear''s face but all she could concentrate on was getting the collar fastened around its neck. Luckily the bear stretched its neck and opened its jaws to bite her head off. This was enough for her to get the training colour over its nose as it got closer to her face. She kept her arms steady and the collar pushed itself over its head and around its neck. The grizzly bear''s teeth snapped shut only inches from her face as she felt the collar tighten itself without her involvement. The bear let out a hot and smelly sigh, then its facial muscles relaxed and it looked at her straight into the eyes. She wasn''t sure what to make of it but she had a good feeling that whatever she had just done had actually worked.


    Not wanting to test her luck, she slowly let go of the collar and took a few steps back. Her new companion just stared at her with a look of curiosity and perhaps a slight hint of concern.

 Chapter 16

    Anika''s new companion followed her dutifully all the way back to Ralph''s cabin. They didn''t meet any other bears on the way, but she wondered if she could rely on this beast to fight by her side when the time came. Looking at the Pet tab in her character screen she saw that its loyalty rating was a measly 5%. Would it run at the first sign of trouble? She was glad that their relationship wasn''t put to the test just yet. She looked over her shoulder a couple of times and was nervous about the whole situation. It wasn''t so long ago that her new friend had been waiting under the branch, hoping that she might fall down and become a tasty treat. Trust and loyalty goes both ways, she thought, and they definitely had work to do in that area.


    She checked her fatigue level, and it wasn''t too bad, but Ralph wasn''t anywhere to be seen. She didn''t feel there was much she could do until the next morning, so she decided to log out. She wasn''t sure what to do with her companion, but thought it best to keep it away from the dogs that Ralph kept close to the cabin. For this reason she wandered down to the stream and logged out there.


    Before going to bed she took time to read through a couple of Hunter guides that focused on the Beastmaster specialisation. There she found two interesting guides about taming and training companions. Some players would go to extraordinary lengths to tame the wildest and exotic creatures. Some of these beasts had stats that were greater than players of an equivalent level. It meant that the many hours they would have to spend tracking and hunting down their pets, could all pay off. Especially if they tamed one which had better stats than they could ever hope to have themselves. She also learnt that most hunters kept a variety of different pets, for different situations. There were beasts like the bear she had tamed earlier that day who were essential for soaking up damage and acting like a tank. This allowed the Hunter to stand away at a distance and cause damage from relative safety. Then there were beasts like eagles and vultures who not only caused a high amount of damage, but who could also be relied upon as a second pair of eyes. Apparently, once a companion''s loyalty level was high enough, it would be possible to use flying companions for scouting far and wide.


    The Hunter class, and more specifically the Beastmaster specialisation, was renowned for being a very frustrating class to play. Many players had tried it and given up before starting a new character. The level of immersion required to support a sufficient bond with the animals was too high for some players. They would feel drained because of the concentration required and their fatigue levels would increase at a dramatic pace because of that. This taught her a few others important points. Fatigue levels were not just correlating with how a player''s physical body was doing in the real world. Fatigue would increase after dying inside the game and from playing intensely and having to focus or react quickly on a continual basis.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    The information she was reading was sinking in now and it was also making sense to her. She pictured the players who had access to their Perma pods and figured that they would be considered an elite player. She had to put an end to it.


    Although she tried, it was impossible to find any clues about where she might go looking for her son. The virtual world would regenerate itself, continually evolving, but the main zones would stay the same. There were places with level restrictions, contested areas where players could kill each other and neutral zones where player versus player combat was not allowed. The best way to find your way around inside the game was to buy maps from other players. Anyone could map out areas they had travelled to and they would sell these maps at a premium depending on how far away they had travelled.


    After doing some further detective work, she came to the conclusion that he was likely to be engaged in player versus player skirmishes and battles whenever the tournaments were not being held. Most players who specialised in this type of combat would fight other players to increase their ranks and provide bonuses for the various factions they were affiliated with. She didn''t have time to get into it much, but she felt sure that her son would be in one of these contested areas. Her best option was to find out where the tournaments were being held and to attend one of them as soon as possible.

 Chapter 17

    Anika was relieved to be back in the game. The familiar sound of the water splashing in the brook, birds singing and the smell of the forest greeted her as soon as she logged in.


    "There you are, and I see you brought along a fine companion from the forest." He walked around the bear, checked its paws and had a little look at its underside. "Does she have a name yet?"


    It hadn''t occurred to Anika that her companion should have a name. Then again, she would need some kind of command if she was going to call it and issue commands at some point.


    "It''s a female? No, I haven''t thought of a name yet. I''ll give it some thought later." She figured he would teach a few things about how to make it sit and how to make it attack and stuff like that. Then she could finally be off.


    "I suggest you think hard about it and decide sooner rather than later. There are a few basic ways of establishing trust between you and your new companion. Have you fed her yet?" Anika shook her head.


    "Well, give her some food and give her name. You might also consider practising a few commands with her and then reward her with more food when she has done a good job. To begin with, just start by telling her to sit or stay and to follow you. After that, we''ll see if she is ready to fight."


    Anika could see that the commands for stay and follow appeared next to her own skill icons, but she didn''t need to pay any attention to them. Her new companion knew exactly what she wanted her to do and could stay behind and follow again as soon as Anika thought about making the command. There was already some kind of bond, a mutual understanding between the two, so Anika fed her some of the cold fish stew which Ralph had left out from yesterday. She wasn''t sure, but she felt as if the act of rewarding her created a stronger connection between them. She checked the character sheet for her new bear, which was just named ''Grizzly bear '', and saw that the loyalty rating had reached 15%. There was an option for her to rename the grizzly bear, so she thought for a few moments and came up with a name. Her companion was now called Beth.


    Beth''s loyalty rating had increased to 20% when she was given a name. She also moved in close to Anika when they were taking a break from the training, wanting to be stroked. Anika reached out and rubbed the fur on the bear''s back. She could feel how the positive reinforcement was improving their relationship. This was an aspect of the game she would never have dreamed of enjoying as much as she did.


    "I''ve been watching the two of you. Not bad at all. It''s rare to see a bear warm to its new master like your friend has done. Beth was it? That''s a lovely name. Make sure you look after her, feed her well and she will take care of you when push comes to shove."


    "Next up, and the last thing you will learn from me is how to get Beth to fight and hunt for you. Very often she will just stay by your side and will only engage with an enemy if you are in danger. Remember this. If you need to, you can order her to stay put without attacking, but it''s difficult to control her if she sees you are being hurt. Now, there will be times when you want to send her into battle before the enemy even knows of you. For this to be successful you will need to focus on your target, very much like you are lining up a shot with your bow. When you have your target in sight; either call to her and tell her to attack, or just picture her charging at the enemy. You will figure out what works the best, but I have found that I rarely need to call out to my dogs. They know what I want them to do and where I want them to be.


    To demonstrate, Ralph looked over towards his dogs and one of them swiftly jumped over the fence and came straight to him and lay by his side. Anika nodded to show she had understood what he meant. The commands were available to her, but after a bit of practice, there was no need to focus on the abilities in the corner of her view. She could just concentrate on the actions she wanted Beth to do. It was a computer game after all she thought, nothing strange about having a direct link with her artificially intelligent companion.


    "Off you go then. Mind you don''t send Beth into a fight the two of you can''t win. If she gets critically injured, it will take time to rebuild the trust between the two of you. Saying that, being victorious in battle is one of the best ways to ensure she stays loyal to you. My dogs here love nothing better than to join me when I go hunting. They know I will never put them into great danger or abuse the trust we have built up together."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Anika was excited to get started, but it occurred to her that asking her new companion to fight another grizzly bear might not be the best start for the two of them. She would do her best to avoid the areas where she knew there were bears and instead find some easier targets to practice on.


    She didn''t need to issue any commands when they set off, Beth followed and walked by her side without a fuss. It felt so good to have a powerful beast on her side. At previous times when she had wandered into this part of the forest, she had felt nervous and anxious about what to expect. But this time, with Beth at her side, she felt good about the prospects of being the Hunter she had chosen to be.


    Anika figured that she must have been running around the edge of the forest with Beth for at least two hours before she stopped and realised what she was doing. She was just having so much fun. She felt invincible, and she had worked out a nice little routine for hunting with Beth. She would lock onto her target and fire the first arrow. Beth was quick and would close the gap between herself and the injured creature before finishing it with a swipe of her paw. They had taken down a couple of badgers who had not run away like the rabbits and pheasants had. Fighting the badgers was the most fun because Anika got to stand at a distance in safety whilst firing arrows at the creature. All the while, Beth would suffer one or two bites on her legs or shoulder before finishing the creature off. The small amount of damage Beth took was healed almost in an instant as soon as she ate the animal they had just killed. A few times Anika had told Beth to not eat immediately because she wanted to collect the pelts and furs in good condition before Beth tucked in.


    When she realised how much fun she was having, she felt bad about it. She was almost losing herself in this virtual reality game and had forgotten all about the reason she was here. It made her feel guilty.


    "That''s enough playing around Beth, let''s go find Ralph and get out of this forest as soon as possible." Beth followed immediately and Anika could feel there was a good connection between them. Beth had a full belly, and they were having fun together. The loyalty rating confirmed what Ralph had told her about fighting with your companion, it was now at 42%.


    "Ah, I wondered where the two of you had gotten to. It doesn''t look like you had much trouble out there, so shall I assume that everything went well? The two of you getting on okay?"


    "We had a good time didn''t we Beth?"


    Anika wasn''t sure, but there was something in Beth''s eyes that told her she had understood everything that had just been said. It was freaky. Maybe it was an artificial intelligence thing, they might have given her companion some way of picking up on language and things like that. She made a mental note not to be too surprised if Beth would eventually have the same cognition skills and level of intelligence as Ralph had. They had done a good job of teaching these characters how to behave like real people.


    "I suppose you''ll be leaving me then?" he looked at her with a smile containing a mixture of regret but an equal amount of pride. Like a teacher saying goodbye to a good student at the end of the school year. "Before you go, I have a gift for you." He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a rolled up parchment, then got on his knees and unfolded it.


    "This here is a map showing my part of the forest. That''s the cabin right there, you can see the stream running from east to west. North of here, past the Gnome Hills, you will find the main road leading to Oakridge. That''s the place you want to be. Lots of adventurers there, plenty of jobs to do and taverns where you can hang your hat. Don''t forget to pay for a room somewhere decent, I can''t have you ending up back here again in case you bite off more than you can chew."


    She knew what that meant. The previous night she had read that players would rent out rooms and build their own houses and fortifications to create a safe point in case they died. Apparently, most of the starting areas had plenty of choice for finding places like these, but it would get more difficult to find a suitable safe-house once players reached higher levels. For players who wanted to travel throughout the world, it became a strategic consideration to find the right places to rent or build permanent locations. Since the only penalty for dying was an increase in fatigue and being sent back to a safe place, there were areas in the world that were so far away from any safe-houses, that dying in battle could cost one or two days worth of travel.


    "I wish you best of luck in locating your son and I hope you find him in good health. In Oakridge you should be able to find people selling maps, they will be essential if you want to navigate your way around the kingdom.


    Then he waved goodbye and went about his business.

 Chapter 18

    By the time Anika made it to the road that would lead her towards Oakridge, she had already had to log out for the night. She had taken a detour which avoided the Gnome Hills, so as not to get slowed down by having to fight those little things again.


    The weather had turned colder; it was grey and cloudy, but she had a decent sleep and she was confident she could make it to the town by midday. For a long time she was lost in thought about what it would be like. Ralph had told her there would be work to do and other adventurers which must mean she would get to meet other players. Finally she would have somebody that wasn''t a computer character to talk to, someone who could give her advice, perhaps make her feel more sane.


    Beth had been in a good mood the previous day but seemed to be a little subdued and grumpier than normal. Perhaps it was because they had had little to eat that day, or perhaps she was getting bored with all the walking they had done. It made little sense to go off in search of something for her to hunt, not now they were so close to getting to their destination.


    Although visibility on the road was good, and apart from a few bends and small hills, it was easy to see far ahead. Despite this, it took a low growl from Beth to draw Anika''s attention to a group of riders coming towards them up ahead. As the riders got closer, Beth moved in front of Anika and took up a defensive stance. She got on her hind legs and gave out a roar as the riders drew close and stopped their horses a few yards away. Two of the riders had crossbows that were now aimed at Beth and Anika, they all wore heavy leather armour and carried a variety of swords and spears with them.


    Not sure what to make of the situation, Anika commanded Beth to back down and to stay by her side. Beth did as she wanted, changed her posture but did so begrudgingly. She was still baring her teeth when one of the riders got off his horse and walked up close to them.


    "I hope you can keep that beast under control lady. If my men see it making any sudden movements, it''ll have arrows from those crossbows through its eye sockets before it knows what hit it. And you''ll be next, so keep your hands by your side where I can see them."


    Anika wasn''t about to put up a fight. She was still trying to figure out if this group of riders were actual players or if they were NPCs in the game.


    "Can I see your papers?"


    "I''m not sure what papers you mean, but I''m just on my way up to Oakridge. It''s not far away from here as far as I can tell."This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The man in front of the was not very tall, but he was clearly the guy in charge of the others. Judging by his question, she assumed that they were on some official duty. Perhaps it was normal to put these kinds of characters in the world. It would help with immersion and would make the place feel more real because it had laws and governments and officials enforcing those laws. Although she still couldn''t tell, she assumed that they were NPC''s, because real players surely wouldn''t ride around like this. They would be out there killing monsters and collecting loot, not asking other players for papers.


    "No papers eh?" He turned around and looked at his men, two of whom smiled and nodded in amusement. "You are not from around here are you?"


    "No, I''m not" she wondered what the consequences would be. This might be some interesting bit of roleplaying, something designed to teach her about the local laws or something. She could do without it though, she wanted to finish the trip and get herself acquainted with Oakridge.


    "No papers and you''re not from around here. Dare I assume that you don''t have an affiliation?"


    "No I don''t have an affiliation," she played along. "What can you tell me about these papers and about the affiliation?"


    "I can tell you it''s an offence to travel on the Kings Road without the proper papers, that''s what I can tell you. I can also tell you that the fine is two gold pieces for a traveller like you getting caught using the road without permission. You can pay me now and then go see the Magistrate when you get to Oakridge."


    She didn''t need to check but opened her character screen anyway to see how much money she had available. She had six silver and forty-two copper coins. Although she couldn''t be sure, she assumed that there was 100 to 1 ratio between silver and gold. In any case, she was far off being able to pay the fine.


    "I''m afraid I don''t have that amount of money." She checked her bag in case there was something else she might offer, but all she had were a couple of animal skins and some fruit she had picked up along the way.


    "I have a couple of high-quality leather hides and some leather scraps to trade, in case you''re interested?" The man in front of her shook his head and chuckled. "If it is such a big deal, I''ll just walk off the main road until I get to Oakridge, and make sure I speak to the Magistrate about getting papers when I get there."


    The man gave off a sly and nasty grin. "You won''t get off that easy lady. The deed is done, you''ve committed an offence and you will have to pay. If you can''t pay the fine, you will have to work it off when we get to town." He waved one of his men over who jumped off his horse and grabbed a coil of rope before approaching. "And no, those leather scraps are worth nothing."


    Anika let herself be tied up. She wondered what to do about all this and thought they were taking things too far, but it was probably part of the experience. At least she would get to Oakridge, which was all that mattered.

 Chapter 19

    When they arrived in Oakridge, Anika could feel a sense of excitement. Being tied up didn''t bother her. It was fascinating to see so many other real players milling around. They were mostly humans, but occasionally she would see a short and stocky dwarf, complete with the long beard and angry face. There were other races too, but she wasn''t sure what to make of them. Some were very tall and slim, elves of some sort and others were creatures she had not encountered before. She realized now who was a real player and who was an NPC. The real players moved around in a very different way, they would sometimes stop and look around before setting off again at a sprint. The NPC''s typically walked around at a steady pace, it felt as if they belonged there whereas everyone else was just passing through.


    Oakridge had a large fortified wall surrounding the entire town. Everybody had their papers checked in front of a large gate before they could enter the town. She overheard her captors explaining to the guards that they had caught her on the Kings Road with no papers and that they were taking her to the stables to work off a debt. Once they were inside the walls, Anika could see an even greater number of players running around. As they walked through what could best be described as a market square, she could see the players hanging around the various stalls, buying food, equipment and haggling with each other and the other NPCs. She couldn''t wait for this little game with the officials to be over so she could talk to some real players.


    "This is where you will work until you''ve paid off your debt."


    They had arrived at a large riding stable. There must have been over 20 horses stabled there and it smelled of shit like a proper stable.


    New Quest: A debt to pay


    You must work in the stables until you have paid off the debt you owe to the Magistrate at Oakridge


    Reward: Travel Documents


    Accept Yes/No


    She accepted the quest and saw that her progress showed 0/2 gold. After looking around inside the stables, she noticed a couple of areas that were marked as having tasks to do. There were piles of soggy hay with a sign next to them, explaining that the foul-smelling hay would need to be cleared off the floor and taken outside. There was also a section with riding tackle that needed shining. All the tools for her to do the work were provided, so she took her time to decide which task to get started with. Beth was still by her side but didn''t look too impressed with where they were.


    She was rewarded with two silver coins after working in an area for a while. It was disappointing though, she estimated that it would take at least a couple of days to work off her debt at this pace. Then it struck her, she had just been playing along without questioning what she was doing. At that moment there was no one around to guard her, and no real reason she couldn''t just leave the stables as long as she avoided being seen by the guards.


    After peaking out of the entrance to the stables for a while, and being sure that there were no guards around to spot her, she made a move and wanted to find a tavern where she could hide. She didn''t get very far though. As soon as she had taken one step outside of the stables, it was as if she had hit an invisible wall. There was no way for her to leave the stables, despite trying at a few different angles. This made her furious. Could they do this to her? She didn''t have time for this, surely there would be some way around it. Could they expect new players to take this on the chin? New players who had only joined the game a few days ago. Would they really be expected to perform these monotonous tasks for a couple of days before they could proceed any further?


    She kicked the invisible wall, but all she got in return was a sore foot and a snigger from some of the other players on the outside. Anika wasn''t someone to make a fuss, so she turned her back on the town and went back inside the stables to get to work.


    Anika started with the easiest jobs first. She didn''t like horses, so cleaning the riding gear and sweeping the floors were her first priority. After spending about 20 minutes on a task, she could see her purse being credited with a couple of silver coins and the work she had just done would reset. The floors would get messy again and the shiny tackle would be dirty. It was soul-destroying. Beth was getting hungry, she didn''t look happy, but there was nothing Anika could do about it. Apart from getting Beth to eat one of the horses, they were stuck working in the stables until this stupid quest was done with.


    After a few hours of monotonous chores, Anika welcomed a distraction when the guards brought in another player. It was another human, a warrior by the looks of it. He didn''t seem bothered or annoyed at having been given the same sentence as her. He looked quite amused and smiled as he walked past before getting stuck into mucking out the stables. She looked at him, trying to figure out as much as possible before daring to start a conversation. By focusing on him, she could see he was level 9 and that he was indeed a warrior. This information came up as a small panel above his head when she attempted to focus on him.


    "Hi." The warrior had stopped what he was doing, turned around to check her out and gave her a little wave.


    "Hi. My name is Anika, what''s yours?"A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "I''m Ben. How''s the work going?" He went back to shovelling hay, but looked over his shoulder, waiting for a reply.


    "It''s ridiculous. I only started playing a couple of days ago and I didn''t have any gold. Then I was caught on the road with no travel documents, so now they''re making me do this shit to pay off my debt. What a stupid quest."


    He shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn''t a big deal.


    "It shouldn''t take you too long. I will be here for a while. I killed one of the NPCs, so I''m stuck here until I get my reputation with Oakridge back up to neutral. It was all worth it though, it will stop some idiots I met from completing their quest for at least 24 hours. It''s all fun and games." Then he winked at her and chuckled.


    "I''m not here to play around though, I''m looking for someone. At the rate I''m going, I won''t be out of here until tomorrow or the day after. It''s taking me ages to earn any money doing this stuff." She flung the tackle on the floor and kicked the bucket in front of her.


    Ben stopped what he was doing and looked like he was thinking hard about something.


    "So you need two gold to get out of here, right?"


    Anika nodded. Ben just kept staring at the hay in front of him, deep in thought. Then a little smile played on his lips and he hesitated a few moments before speaking.


    "I''ve got two gold you can have, but you must do me a little favour once you get out. Interested?"


    "Definitely. What do you need me to do?"


    Ben took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh.


    "I don''t want you to be worried, or to think that this is a big deal. I''ll give you whatever gold you need so you can complete your quest, and I''ll even throw in extra once you are done as a friendly gesture. Don''t go thinking you can just take my gold and leave though, I have lots of friends around here. You won''t get very far before I come and make your life uncomfortable. Understood?"


    Anika nodded. The thought of cheating him hadn''t even crossed her mind. She was happy to do whatever it took to get out of here sooner rather than later.


    "Go on then, don''t keep me in suspense. What do you need me to do?"


    "Well, you know that NPC I told you about, the one I killed to upset a couple of other players. She is a quest giver, unimportant around town compared to other NPC''s, but she offers a quest for Mages. Without completing her quest, most Mages don''t get their first decent robe. It''s a long quest chain and many of them spend a couple of days working through it, then they have to get back to her to complete it. It''s a decent robe with good stats, but many players don''t bother with it because they level up so quickly that it becomes useless before long. Anyways, I ran across a couple of players that were doing this quest. They barged in on my territory and stole a couple of kills outside the Deep Dungeons where I was farming. They didn''t even give me the loot or say sorry, so as you can imagine I was pretty pissed off. To cut a long story short, I''m here to have fun and these guys ruined that for me. Now it''s my job to spoil their fun. Killing that NPC means they will have to wait at least 24 hours until she re-spawns before they can complete their quest. I''m sure it''s pissing them off right now."


    "Don''t tell me you want me to kill the NPC once it re-spawns." How stupid did he think she was? Killing that NPC had landed him straight in the stables with a longer sentence than hers. Why would she risk that?


    "I know what you''re thinking, but trust me, it''s not a big deal. Chances are you won''t get caught anyway and everything will be fine. I was just being careless, I knew there were guards close by when I took her out, but I did it just to piss them off. All you need to do is make sure that no other NPCs, especially guards, see you when you kill her. It''s easy, she''s got a little house outside town where she does all her weaving. Just hang out there and send in your little pet once she comes back online. I reckon she''ll be back tomorrow morning at some point. You up for it?"


    Anika wasn''t sure, it seemed risky. At the same time, she figured that she couldn''t be much worse off than she already was. The thought of staying in the smelly stables for another few days doing these menial chores was not in the least bit appealing. The extra gold would come in handy.


    "Are you 100% sure I can get away with it as long as nobody sees me?"


    "You have my word. Trust me, I''ve been playing this game for years. You might lose reputation points with Oakridge, but in the greater scheme of things, that won''t set you back unless you''re planning to hang around here for some reason. You said you were looking for someone right?"


    "Yes. I''m looking for my son. All I know is that he plays in the tournaments and he''s into PVP. I joined the game a couple of days ago to come find him and I''m not making much progress so far."


    Ben''s eyes lit up.


    "Cool! That means he got sponsored. Most players who compete in the tournaments have to get sponsored, there''s no way us normal lot can afford Perma pods, and you need those things to deal with your character dying so often. Any idea what team he''s on?"


    Anika had to think for a while.


    "Warheads or something?"


    "Pure Warheads? You''ve got to be kidding. Pure Warheads are the top team at the moment. They''ve always been high in the rankings, but in the last two seasons, nobody has touched them. If you''re serious, and your son is playing on their team, then he won''t be hard to find. Those guys are like celebrities man."


    Anika''s heart beat very fast. If she had got the name right. If Ted was on this Pure Warheads team, it seemed like she was getting close to figuring out where he might be.


    "Can you help me find out where he is then?"


    "Sure. If you help me with my little game, I''ll check with a couple of friends. The tournaments are held at a secret location, they don''t want lots of players to turn up and distract everyone. But, if you''re in the PvP circuit, you have a pretty a good idea of where to go when the time is right. At all other times, most PvP players fight for reputation and resources around contested borders. I should be able to find out where the Pure Warheads do most of their fighting."


    "Okay, I''ll do it."


    There was no question any longer. To hell with the risk of being caught killing an NPC. If she was successful, she would have a lead to follow. This could be the breakthrough she needed.

 Chapter 20

    Ben had given her directions to the NPC''s house, a short walk outside of Oakridge. He had also given her the two gold coins she needed to get out of the stables. After paying the guards and seeing the Magistrate about her travel papers, she decided to log out for the night. Her fatigue level had already gone past 80% at that point, so she was dreading having to go back to the real world. Before logging out she paid five silver to rent a room at the tavern for a week. It was the most basic and the cheapest room she could find. There was a bed, a cabinet and a large wooden trunk where she could keep her belongings. That was it. At least she wouldn''t have to resurrect at Ralph''s cabin if things went sour in the morning.


    Before going to sleep she spent a while browsing the forums and blog posts again. She wanted to get more information on the PvP tournaments and the contested zones Ben had mentioned. It was way too much to take in for one sitting. Everything he had told her was correct. Nobody knew where the PvP tournaments would be hosted, but they were usually in desolate and out of the way places. They were not supposed to be public spectacles inside the game. They were serious fights to the death between players and the tournament organisers preferred to keep everything private in the in-game world. Team members in the audience would stream the action live for people in the real world to see, but by the time the location was made public the fights would be over.


    The contested areas were composed of border skirmishes between opposing factions. Players could align themselves with certain NPC factions, and by fighting in their favour, they would gain reputation points that could be traded in for valuable PvP gear and weapons. Just like anywhere in the game, it was hard to find information about how to get to these areas. Most maps were out of date by the time they had been acquired. One thing was certain though, the action took place on different continents. She had figured out that the continent she was on was neutral territory. This meant she had a long journey ahead of her wherever she needed to go next.


    The first thing she realised when she logged back into the game the next morning, was how grumpy Beth was. Her bear wasn''t allowed inside the tavern, so she had walked downstairs and gone straight to the back of the tavern to check up on her. Beth greeted her with a grumble and a look that made it clear she was unhappy at being left alone. She was starving, so Anika promised her they would go find some food before taking care of the NPC.


    With Beth''s breakfast taken care of, courtesy of some wild sheep in the fields outside Oakridge, they set off to find the cottage. Anika just hoped that it would be worth any trouble they might get into. She hoped that Ben was true to his word and that he could find out where Ted might be.


    They found the cottage they were looking for. It was a short distance off the road and it had a cute little path leading up to it, and a colourful selection of flowers at the front. Anika had a look around, there were no guards nearby and no other NPCs to be found. When she was sure that there was no way she could be spotted, she entered the cottage and found a beautiful room with fabrics and cloth of many colours, and a giant loom and various tailoring equipment.


    There was a second room at the back of the cottage, but after a thorough search, the NPC she was looking for was nowhere in sight. Chances were good she had not respawned yet. The only thing Anika could do was to stay there and wait. She wondered if the quest giver would put up much of a fight. Ben had seemed confident she could complete the task, so she hoped that killing her wouldn''t be a problem when the time came.


    After waiting a short while, Anika heard voices outside. She peeked through the windows and saw a small group of players making their way up the path towards the house. These players were here to complete their quest. They would not be impressed with what she was planning to do. She wondered what the consequences would be in case she succeeded. Still, there was no turning back. If she managed to do what Ben had asked of her, there was every chance he would help her find the location of her son. At the same time, she didn''t fancy waiting around with this group of players nearby. If the only purpose of the quest giver was to give Mages their quest, they would figure out she had no business there.


    She left Beth inside the second room and told her to lie down in a corner so as not to draw attention to herself. Then she left the cottage and was planning to get some distance between her and the other players.


    "Hey there!" One of the Mages coming up the path had spotted her. He waved his hand in the air and walked towards her.


    "Hi, I''m lost. Is that Oakridge up ahead, along the road?" She lied, hoping that they would just think she was a beginner, and not there to kill the NPC they all relied upon to complete their quest.


    "Yep. You''re almost there." He kept walking towards her, so she stopped. Turning her back and walking away would seem too suspicious.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "Hey. Stick around for a while. You''re level 4, we might have some stuff you can use. Just waiting around here to complete a quest, then we''re all going back to Oakridge as well. Come and hang out with us."


    That was nice. These guys saw she was a low-level character and were offering to help. She wished she didn''t have to do what she was planning. They had done nothing to upset her and they were being friendly. It just wasn''t an option to return their kindness. She knew what she had to do and was worried that she would give it all away if she stayed to talk.


    "Thanks, but I''m okay. I just need to get to Oakridge, see you guys later."


    Anika left them to it and pretended to make her way back to the main road. This would get tricky. She wasn''t sure if she could rely on Beth to take care of the NPC when it spawned. She needed to be there to give the command but couldn''t be seen anywhere near the house. On top of that, there was every chance that the players she had just met would see Beth hiding in the back room. That might throw a spanner into the works.


    It became clear that she needed to get close enough to the house to spot when the NPC spawned. She would have to stay hidden from the other players and just hope they didn''t see Beth at all. When the time was right, she would get Beth to take care of the NPC. If everything went according to plan, she could get out of there before they realised what had happened and that she was the one responsible for ruining their day.


    By activating her stealth and camouflage abilities, she could sneak around the back of the house and stay hidden right under one of the windows. The other players were at the front of the house, chatting to each other. She could hear them talking about their little encounter with Ben and how he had prevented them from completing their quest the previous day.


    "What a dickhead. Why would he even bother? He will be working off his punishment in the stables for a long time, and what did he get out of it? Once we get this quest over with, I will go and see him at the stables. I want to see his face when he knows we''ve all got our rewards, and he is stuck doing those shitty chores."


    They were all in agreement that Ben was an idiot and they were planning to gloat at him when their quest was complete. She wasn''t sure how to feel about it. Under normal circumstances, she might reconsider doing what she was about to do, but she had bigger things on her mind. This was just the game to them. Although both sides of the argument had reasons to be annoyed with each other, they were just like kids in the playground. Her focus was a matter of life and death. She would have to be ruthless and put her morals aside.


    She checked on Beth from one of the windows at the back. Her companion was laying on the floor where she had left her. When she took a peek through the window, Beth looked up as if waiting for a command. She tried communicating her plan to the animal, but there was no sign that Beth had any idea what she was thinking. They would both have to wait and make sure they didn''t miss their chance when it came.


    After waiting for what seemed like a long time, Anika heard the other players shouting with joy.


    "She''s here, let''s go!"


    Anika looked through the window and could see that an NPC had appeared inside the cottage. The other players were almost inside, so she didn''t have a second to lose. She gave Beth the command to attack and got her bow ready. There was no way for her to shoot the NPC without breaking the glass, but she wanted to be ready in case that became necessary. Beth went straight for the throat and took a massive chunk of the NPC''s health bar off with one-hit.


    "What the fuck?"


    The other players were shocked at seeing a grizzly bear attacking their quest giver.


    It looked like Beth would have no trouble taking care of the NPC by herself, so Anika ran away from the cottage and into the fields at the back. Looking over her shoulder, she realised that she hadn''t planned this far. She also hadn''t given Beth any additional commands. Her faithful companion was now leaving the cottage and making its way back to her after a job well done. The trouble was, the other players were following Beth to figure out what the hell had just happened. They were all coming straight for her, furious and shouting obscenities as they ran.


    There was no way she could hide what had just happened, it was obvious to everybody involved. Although she knew they couldn''t attack her, she didn''t feel like having a confrontation with them. She ran as fast as she could back to Oakridge. Not knowing what to do or where to go, she headed straight for the stables. Chances were good that staying in the town would not be much fun. She had made enemies now, so she wanted to speak to Ben and get on her way as soon as possible.


    Ben was at the stables, working away and he was happy to see her. He was even happier when he saw the other players whose day had just been ruined arrive shortly after Anika. Before she could start the conversation with him to get the news, he might have of her son, the other players had entered the stables and were making a scene. This was not a good time for them to talk and she didn''t want to be involved in what was about to happen next.


    "Ben, I did as you asked. I need to know what you found out, but I''ll come back later." He agreed and got back to the shouting match that was erupting and was no doubt enjoying his moment immensely.


    Anika was pleased that none of the players followed her, but she went back to her room at the tavern to stay out of sight for a while, anyway. Despite the stress and confusion of that morning, when she reflected on what had happened, she felt that everything had gone well. She hadn''t been caught by any guards, so technically she had got away with murder. The only thing that remained was to get her reward from Ben.

 Chapter 21

    The light was fading, but despite having been on the go for most of the day, Anika''s fatigue levels had not yet reached the point where she would need to consider logging out. She waited until it got dark and then made her way to the stables to talk to Ben. She was very careful to avoid being seen by the players she had become enemies with earlier in the day. Ben was taking a break, sitting on a couple of hay bales and talking to some other characters. It looked like they had brought him some food and were just keeping him company. When she approached, he got up to greet her and told the other guys to leave.


    "I was wondering when you''d come back. Those idiots didn''t give you a hard time did they?"


    "No, I stayed out of their way. I don''t plan on making friends with them soon though. Did you find any info about my son or the Pure Warheads?"


    "I did, take a seat." He gestured to an empty hay bale next to him and offered her some food and drink. With his mouth still full of food, he talked about his connections and how he had pulled in some favours to get the information she wanted. He also suggested that if she managed to find her son, he would be keen to get introduced at some point if that was possible.


    "Your son, if he is playing for the Pure Warheads, is fighting for the Crimson Alliance faction. They are a real mixed-race faction, so you get many people fighting for them. They have been around since the Crimson Wars, heard much about that?"


    Anika remembered that Ralph had mentioned something about fighting in the Crimson Wars, but she shook her head and asked him to continue.


    "The Crimson Wars are a part of the main storyline of the game. I don''t have time to tell you about it now, you''ll figure it out as you go along. Anyways, the Crimson Alliance are fighting over territory against the League of Ash, plus a few smaller factions." He paused for a few minutes to see if she was following what he was saying.


    "I can see that all of this is over your head. Don''t worry. When you find the Crimson Alliance, just follow some of their quests, and they''ll give you all the background."


    "Now, in Everscape, all terrain is procedurally generated. Are you familiar with this?"


    She shook her head.


    "Okay, no problem. Basically, this means that the game world is as infinite as the universe. The thing is, most players stick to areas that have objectives and rewards. Very few people test the limits of the game world, but some do wander off the beaten track pointlessly. Next thing. The different zones in Everscape are constantly changing. Think of it like massive tectonic plates that are always moving around. While it makes finding your way around somewhat of a challenge, it is something that has kept the game fresh for the millions of users that play the game every day."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "I think the game is stupid. How are you supposed to find anyone? It''s ridiculous."


    "I know what you mean, but think about it the other way round. Most people come here to escape from something, their day job, people and stuff like that. The game has been designed so that anyone can be anonymous if they want to and nobody will be stuck in the same game world day after day. There''s a reason they do it, and there''s a reason it has been so successful."


    He looked at her and must have noticed that she didn''t share his enthusiasm for the way the game had been set up.


    "I can appreciate that you don''t agree and that it makes your task a challenging one."


    "So how do I get to where the Crimson Alliance is fighting?"


    "Good. Now we are getting to the real point of the matter. The good news is that most of the territory they are fighting over is on the Gliphos continent. You can get there by boat." He didn''t return her smile, but she was beaming when she heard she had a substantial lead and direction to go in.


    "The bad news is that Gliphos is a massive PvP zone. This means that as soon as you step off the boat you will need to keep your head up and your wits about you. Any player can kill you whenever they want, except for a couple of neutral spots here and there. I haven''t been there myself, so I can''t give you any advice, but you might want to level up first and get yourself some better gear. I don''t fancy your chances of staying alive for long, especially if you are travelling by yourself."


    Anika spent a few moments thinking through the instructions she had been given. She was confident about things now, she knew where she had to go. How to get there was another matter. The main thing was that she trusted his information and she no longer had to fumble her way around in the dark.


    "Thank you for all the advice, I know where I am going now. Can you tell me how I get to the boat to Gliphos?"


    "Maps. You will need quite a few maps." He chuckled and shook his head. "Because of how the game is always changing, you''ll find that there is a market in up-to-date maps. Your best place to start is in the Explorers Quarter in Windfall City. Check in with the Explorers Guild and get advice from them. You should also make it a habit of talking with travellers. Some players specialise in travelling far and wide, and they will return to the main cities on occasions and sell the information for a profit."


    "Do I need a map to get to Windfall City?"


    "No, Windfall is a capital city. It pretty much stays where it is all the time. The further away you get from places like that, the more in flux the terrain will be. I think I''ve got an old starter map somewhere in my bag, it should still be accurate enough for getting you there."


    He got the map out of his bag and handed it to her, along with an extra gold coin which he had promised the previous day. She took it and thanked him, then made a vague promise she would send him a letter when she found her son to thank him again and to make good on her promise of introducing the two of them.

 Chapter 22

    Anika had to log out before heading off towards Windfall City. When she was back in the real world, she checked her emails and realised that her boss was getting worried about her. She had forgotten to update anyone at work about what she was doing or where she was. She let her boss know she had come down with a terrible bug, but she hoped she would be better soon and would stay in touch. This was a lie, she had a feeling it would take quite a while for her to find her son. It was dawning on her that she would have to invest the same amount of hours her son had done to reach maximum level before she would find him.


    Like she was getting used to doing every night, she studied forums and video guides before going to bed. That evening she was looking for ways to level up quickly. The most common ways to level up for lower level players was to fight your way through dungeons with groups of other players. It was possible to do a range of other things like exploring the world, completing the storyline quests and even just killing creatures and mobs throughout the world. The most efficient way to level up, however, was to kill the largest enemies possible. They were located in the dungeons and would require a coordinated effort with a team of players to take down. This was also the best way to acquire the gear and weapons that everyone was so hungry for.


    Anika would have preferred to run through some of the storyline quests by herself, she also wouldn''t have minded finding creatures in the game to kill for experience points, but she felt she didn''t have the luxury of time. Going to Windfall City was definitely the best thing to do. Since it was a capital city, it would be easy to pick up the right quests, directions and find other players to team up with for running the dungeons.


    She logged back into Everscape and was keen to leave Oakridge as soon as possible. The only thing she wanted to get done before setting off was to see if she could get money for the leather scraps she had picked up along the way. She asked a couple of players in the tavern about what to do with them, and they told her they were not much use for anyone in that state. They pointed her in the right direction of a Leatherworker who could teach her how to make something useful out of them that would be worth selling.


    The journey to find the Leatherworker was a slight detour away from her trip to Windfall City, this was an issue because time was of the essence. She had read the previous evening that most players picked up at least one trade skill to focus on so they could make armour or weapons or items that other players might need. This was the primary way to make money in the game although some money could also be earned by doing quests and killing mobs. She planned to meet the Leatherworker and see if he could teach her anything useful.


    When she arrived at the Leatherworker''s house, there was nobody to be seen anywhere around. She was definitely in the right place. It was similar to Ralph''s hunting cabin; it had furs and skins hanging on the walls and various hunting gear and weapons. She saw a table with some immaculate items of clothing on them. Something that would take a long time to make and would require a lot of skill. She picked up what looked like a set of shoulder pads, made from a beautiful dark red animal skin. They would have been too big for her, so she didn''t try them on, but she picked them up and admired them. The stitching was immaculate, and the pads themselves were made from two thin layers of leather, perfectly stitched together with neat straps and buckles made of brass.


    "Admiring my handiwork?"


    She turned around and saw a tall man dressed in a very nice leather outfit. He looked friendly and walked straight up to her before he dumped his goods underneath the table where she was standing.


    "Yes, I was. These things are beautiful. I''m here to see if you could teach me a thing or two. I''ve got my own skins, I just don''t know what to do with them."


    "Perhaps. I take on students now and then. Let''s see what you''ve got."


    Anika pulled out the leather scraps from her bag. They smelled, and she became embarrassed, they were not high quality at all.


    "Is there anything I can do with these?"


    He spread them out on this table and turned them over a couple of times before speaking. "I don''t mean to be rude, but I suppose nobody has taught you how to skin an animal before. Correct?"


    "That''s true. I got myself a skinning knife from a hunter called Ralph, he needed skins and just told me to do my best. I kind of figured it out by myself. I can see what you mean though, they''re not very neat, and they should have been treated with something."


    "You are absolutely right. Skinning itself is something that can take many years to master. If these scraps are from your first attempt, then I would say you haven''t done too bad at all. Like you said, they also need to be treated as soon as possible. There are many ways to cure a hide, it all depends on what they need to be used for and how much time and effort you are willing to invest."


    He threw the skins in a barrel of liquid, presumably to soak them for a while. The liquid had a milky colour to it, like soap, but there were no bubbles. She could see from looking around the place he had skins and animal parts of all sorts available, he also had a variety of jars and bottles and dried herbs which that were used in his craft.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Ralph, did you say? Not the old Hunter from the edge of the Wandering Forest, down south of Gnome Hills? "


    "Yes, that''s him. Do you know him?"


    "Yes, I know him. If he wasn''t so lazy, he could make a killing selling his goods. I''ve told him I won''t travel, he''s the seller, and I''m the buyer so he should come here. My thinking is that he enjoys sitting around in the sun with his dogs a little too much to make himself rich."


    "I enjoyed my time with him. He taught me a lot about how to survive in the woods and how to protect myself with the bow and arrow."


    "And I can see he taught you how to tame a wild beast like that." He pointed at Beth who had been standing close behind Anika. Beth looked as if she was following the conversation, listening to everything they said.


    Anika remembered what she was there for, and where she was going next. The Leatherworker had made her feel so comfortable she could have stayed and chatted for longer, but then she remembered that he was just an NPC.


    "I''m Anika by the way. So how about teaching me a couple of things? If I can learn just the basics of how to make something like those shoulder pads, I''d be really grateful."


    He thought for a few moments before answering.


    "I''m Peter, pleased to meet you."


    Peter then pulled the leather straps out of the barrel and spread them out onthe canvas on the floor.


    "A skilled Leatherworker doesn''t just skin a beast, dry the hides out and then stitch something together. Everything takes time and lots of patience. Getting the perfect cut requires skill and patience. Curing the leather requires attention to detail and patience. Finally, stitching the leather into a perfect piece of clothing, or a useful item takes a steady hand and lots and lots of practice and patience. Do you think you have that in you?"


    Anika didn''t answer immediately. Normally she would have said yes, she had patience and persistence in the real world. But she didn''t have time for any of this immersive stuff. At the same time, she didn''t want to leave there empty-handed.


    "What you are saying makes sense, and I would usually say I''m a patient person. The thing is, I''m on my way to Windfall City, and I am against the clock. I need to find someone urgently.


    "I''ll teach you the absolute basics of working a piece of leather as fast as I can, then you can be on your way. How does that sound?"


    That was music to her ears. She was determined to listen and to pick up everything she could for the rest of the day, then she could set off in the morning and bring the items Peter wanted her to deliver with her.


    At first, Peter took her into the woods behind his cabin. He brought his own bow and arrows and commended her for not using a gun. He told her that guns would just ruin the skin by puncturing massive holes in it, a thin arrow would only leave a tiny hole in the precious leather.


    They started with the basics. Where to aim so as not to ruin the skin of the animal. He then taught her what the lines to cut looked like and how to make a judgement on the strongest parts of an animal skin.


    After killing a couple of rabbits and foxes, they were ready to head home. Beth had found it difficult that she wasn''t allowed to join in the fight, but she had been rewarded for her patience with some delicious meat. Peter kept a few cuts of meat for himself and started a cooking fire as soon as they got back. Anika''s Skinning had increased to 46/50 by the time they were done.


    "You did well today, I can see that Ralph taught you more than just the basics about hunting your prey. He is very talented, and that''s why I told you he could doan excellent business by selling his goods. The few times when he had something for sale, they were always of the finest quality. Never a rip or a tear to ruin the skins. You''d almost think he wrestled the creatures to death without using weapons, they were of such good quality."


    Peter put their fresh skins in the same barrel as before, he then took two colourful tinctures off his shelf and told her to sit down so they could talk. He explained to her how the curing process worked, about different herbs and liquids that could be used to either soften or toughen up the leather. It would take at least three or four days for the leather to be cured before you could work on it.


    Once all the theory had been explained, he let her have a go with a needle and thread on some leather scraps he had already prepared. Anika found that she enjoyed the process. At first, he gave her a very simple schematic. Two layers of fine leather to be sewn together with a brass buckle attached. He then taught her a couple of variations and explained that with the skills she had learnt she could repair her own clothes in case they got ripped or cut apart. He didn''t have time to teach anything else, the light was already fading, and their supper was ready. He encouraged her to experiment though. He told her she could get inspiration from having a keen eye for what other people were wearing and he told her to inspect things like bags and riding saddles in case she wanted to see how they were stitched together. It was also possible to buy schematics in Windfall City which would give her simple instructions if there was a particular item she was looking to make.


    Leatherworking 16/50


    The final part of advice he gave her before he turned in for the night was to think about imbuing her leather with the essence of creatures in the wild. If she could stay with him for a couple of days, he would be happy to teach her everything about how this worked, but as she didn''t intend to stay, he told her to have a go and to experiment. He gave her a few examples of how each creature in the wild had certain qualities. If she could distil the essence of an animal or the qualities from a herb, she could create more than just basic leather items, she would, with enough practice, be able to create things that had almost magical qualities.


    When Anika logged in the next morning, she thanked Peter for his hospitality and promised him she would make his delivery to Windfall her first priority. She also couldn''t thank him enough for everything he had taught her so far, and she promised him to make good use of what she had learned. Before letting her go, he gave her a quick overview of how to make sturdy bags and told her to make sure she always carried a large bag with her if she was planning to travel far distances.

 Chapter 23

    Anika was making good progress towards her destination. She didn''t follow a straight line though because she needed to keep Beth well fed, but she also spent time hunting down exotic creatures and working her skinning and leatherworking. It didn''t take long for her skills to reach 50/50 and she was getting some clean cuts she was sure Peter would be proud of.


    It was on one of her little gathering detours she spotted a beaten path leading off the main road and followed it. Soon she heard voices from what was almost certainly a group of other players. They were laughing and messing around, and since it had been awhile since she had spoken to anyone she got closer and introduced herself.


    She was greeted by two other players. Lilia was a level 9 Mage, and Felix was a level 11 Rogue. They were hanging around, waiting for the third member of their group who had gone into the forest to collect herbs for potions.


    After the initial introductions, Anika decided that she had had enough of a distraction and told them she would be on her way.


    "Hey, don''t go yet. Why don''t you come run this dungeon with us?" It was Felix. He explained to her they were getting ready to do a run of the Nightmare Caverns, and that she could tag along.


    "Come on Felix, she''s level 4, and she doesn''t have any gear. Sorry, no offence Anika. But we wiped in this dungeon earlier today, and we had a group of five with some decent gear." Lilia kicked some of the leaves in front of her in apparent frustration.


    "I don''t care. I want to get back in there. So what if we don''t complete it today? It''s better than hanging around doing nothing anyways." Felix had walked up to Anika, put an arm around her shoulder and tried to welcome her back.


    "Our healer is coming back soon, you''ll be okay. Just get your little pet to join the fight and take your shots from a distance. Have you run a dungeon yet?"


    "No, I haven''t. I was reading about it last night though, it''s the best way to level up compared to just doing quests right? I''m happy to tag along and will do my best to make a difference." She was glad that Felix wanted her to join, but she felt very inadequate. She had no experience, her gear wasn''t up to scratch, and she doubted she would make any difference if they brought her along.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "Yeah, you''ll level up quick enough in there. Most of the mobs are above level 10, you should get an insane amount of XP without even getting to the end."


    Despite the encouraging words, Lilia still didn''t look excited at the prospect of her coming along. She turned to Felix and shook her head.


    "We don''t even have a tank. I admit the guy we brought along earlier was useless, but there''s no way we can get past the first couple of mobs without somebody taking a lot of damage if we don''t have a tank."


    "Anika''s pet can tank, look, she''s got a fucking bear. Stop being so negative. Let''s find Hamish and get going. I''m sick of waiting around."


    Anika was feeling excited now. She didn''t get the importance of having a tank, but it sounded like they knew what they were doing. Beth would be happy to jump into a fight, she checked earlier, and her loyalty rating was over 70% now. They had developed a strong bond, and she knew without a doubt that Beth would relish an opportunity to fight for her.


    Hamish could be spotted from quite a distance, his robes were bright white, and he occasionally cast some spells that would make him glow in an almost fluorescent blue for a few seconds. He was in a good mood and didn''t seem to mind Anika tagging along. Felix explained to him what the plan was. They were going into the dungeon without a tank, and he would have to work extra hard to keep Beth alive. Hamish just shrugged his shoulders and handed out the food he had been collecting.


    With Felix and Hamish in good spirits and Anika getting more and more excited at the prospect of her first dungeon, that only left Lilia to spoil the fun. She kept pointing out various game mechanics and parts of the dungeon that would be too difficult for them to handle. She said a hunter''s pet just wouldn''t be useful at all. When she could see that Anika was getting slightly offended, she tried to be nice about it and even complimented Beth on her high amount of stamina. She then made a point that getting through the dungeon, required that the tank knows how to position themselves to make sure that nobody else would take any damage. Anika made a mental note of what she was explaining and looking at Beth she realised that she didn''t need to pass any instructions on. Beth didn''t nod in agreement, but Anika could feel she had heard and understood everything that was being said.


    "This is it, boys and girls."


    Felix was excited and asked them all to stop outside the entrance to the Nightmare Caverns.


    "Take these Anika, they are level 10 health potions, so it''s a waste on you. But don''t be shy about it. If you get hit just drink this, and you''ll be good as new in no time. Everyone else got what they need?"


    "I could use mana potions. Got any Lilia?" Hamish said.


    "You can have two. But I doubt will have time to even use them. Chances are we''ll wipe soon as we step foot inside that place again." Hamish and Felix looked at each other and just chuckled.

 Chapter 24

    After checking that everyone had the food and potions they would need, Anika got an invitation from Felix to join the group.


    Felix has invited you to a group.


    Accept Yes/No


    After accepting the invitation, she could now see three other character portraits belonging to her team members in her view. When she focused on Felix''s picture, she noticed that she could inspect his character sheet, just like her own. She was curious about what information this might reveal but didn''t have time to look at anything before they all walked towards the dungeon.


    The entrance to the Nightmare Caverns was a large stone archway, built into the ground right in front of them. There was no door to enter through. Instead, the entrance looked like some fuzzy tapestry. It was evident where the border was, and it reminded Anika of a film she had once seen, called Stargate, where the people would enter into a different world by walking through a portal. She let the others go first, then she took a deep breath and walked through it herself.


    You have entered: Nightmare Caverns


    Leaving your group will result in being transported outside this entrance immediately


    It was cold in this dungeon; it smelled of stale air, and there was water trickling down the side of the walls on either side of them. It was also really quiet. The sound of the trees and the animals from the forest they had just left were completely gone. All they could hear was trickling and dripping water, and their own footsteps. Anika moved as quietly as she could, watching her step and staying fully alert to any danger they might face. The others seemed to charge ahead with little care. She supposed they had been here before and knew what to look out for.


    After a few minutes of walking through the wet and narrow tunnel, it got brighter. A light was being provided by torches high on the walls. Looking past her group members, up ahead, she could see that the corridor opened into a large room. Felix put his hand up to signal that they should stop before they entered."


    "You guys know what to do, but Anika, it''s important that you send Beth inside as soon as I give the command. Okay? The first mobs are pretty easy, let''s go."


    Felix must''ve activated his stealth ability because he became almost invisible. She could see his faint outline, he was crouching and making his way around the edge of the room. At this point, she was getting worried. She couldn''t see any targets to shoot at, and she had no idea where she should send Beth once he gave the signal.


    "Anika," Felix whispered, "send Beth into the middle of the room."


    Beth knew what she was supposed to do because she looked at Anika as if waiting for her master to give the go-ahead. Anika nodded to her and off she went. There was nothing for her to charge at, so she walked in at a slow pace, checking her surroundings and looking for danger. When she got into the middle of the room, there was a sudden noise coming from every corner in the room. It was like a painful groan, and it echoed throughout the chamber and into the tunnel where Anika and the others were standing.


    Hamish and Lilia both cast a spell, almost simultaneously. Following this, they both glowed ever so slightly. Hamish was a translucent blue and Lilia now glowed in a purple colour. They had also both changed stance. It was clear from their body language they were about to fight. Anika took the cue and got her bow out, but with nowhere to aim she held it pointing down and waited for instructions. She could feel that Beth was nervous, trying to find out where the sound was coming from.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    As the sound and the echoes faded away, it became silent. That was when Anika spotted their first targets. From each corner of the room, some sort of ghostly skeleton walked straight through the walls towards Beth. She had spotted the first two in the corners in front of her and was hesitating, not knowing which one to engage. At that moment, Felix broke his stealth and slashed with his daggers at the skeleton nearest to him. Beth joined him, and before Anika had figured out what was going on, the two of them had taken care of the first skeleton and were making their way over to the next one.


    Lilia was cupping both hands together and was creating some form of magic in between her hands. After a couple of seconds, she fired a massive bolt of blue magic straight into the skeleton that was making its way towards Beth and Felix. It stopped in its tracks, as if it was frozen, then it looked around at the three of them in the entrance to the room.


    "Take care of that one Anika, it''s frozen and won''t be able to move for a few seconds." Lilia turned her attention to the last skeleton which had not yet been engaged. She prepared another bolt of magic in between her hands.


    So far, Anika hadn''t taken a single shot. Part of her had been too absorbed by what Beth was doing, the other part of her just didn''t know who she should focus on. She was glad to be given instructions and started firing arrows into the frozen skeleton. In all the confusion, she couldn''t tell if she was doing much damage. But she had a feeling that her arrows were just going straight through the target, having minimal effect, if any.


    Lilia had frozen the second skeleton by the time the first one had freed itself from her spell. Anika just kept shooting arrows into it, but she panicked when it looked straight at her, raised its long sword and moved in her direction. It was clear now that her arrows were not having any effect. It got close enough for her to see its health bar. Lilia''s spell must have knocked a small chunk off, but after five or six arrows there was absolutely no change.


    Beth and Felix must have finished their second target off, because the skeleton heading straight for Anika, stumbled and turned around to face them after being attacked from behind. They seemed to be working well together. The skeleton was now facing Beth and Felix, the rogue was dodging every blow from their target and stepping to the side and behind it, delivering a vicious stab several times a second. Watching Felix was quite a show. It was as if he was dancing around the target, now and then he would draw his daggers back and charge them with some sort of energy. His next attack was powered by a yellow glow that surrounded his blades. It was clear that this particular attack was causing a lot of damage.


    One minute later and there was only one skeleton left to kill. The next moment, the whole thing was over before Anika got into the action.


    Beth returned to Anika with a clear sign of triumph in her eyes. Felix joined them, petting Beth on the head and calling her a good girl.


    "You need to use a magic shot, Anika," Lilia sighed. She was staring into space, not addressing Anika directly. "I''m checking the combat logs, Beth is doing a decent amount of damage, but you did nothing. What''s the problem?"


    Anika was sure she didn''t have access to a magic shot. She checked her character sheet with the skills and abilities listed just to be sure, but couldn''t find anything.


    "I''m sorry, but I don''t think I have learnt a magic shot yet."


    "Oh yeah, you don''t get that until level 5 I think." Felix was looking straight into the air as well, checking these combat logs Lilia had mentioned.


    "It''s no big deal though, Beth and I took care of those skeletons no problem, didn''t we?" He gave Beth another affectionate rub.


    "Great." Lilia was not impressed. "I say we leave now and wait for Anika to level up. She needs to see a class trainer before we go any further. We are already treading on thin ice with a group of four players and no tank. If she can''t do any damage, then we will be screwed.


    Hamish looked like he had also finished checking the combat logs and joined the conversation.


    "I think we did okay, nobody got hurt. I didn''t have to do anything during that fight. Beth is pretty solid, so it might just take us longer than normal to work our way through the next few rooms. I''ll be happy if we can take down the Skeleton Queen. Should be some good loot on her and then we can always see after that."


    Felix agreed and told Lilia to chill out.

 Chapter 25

    After clearing a couple more rooms similar to the first one, the only difference being a few more skeletons to tackle at a time and not very much in the way of loot other than a couple of coins and rusty pieces of weaponry, they had made it to a much larger room. Hamish explained that this was the throne room and that the Skeleton Queen would spawn up at the front as soon as they entered. There were some game mechanics to pay attention to. The Skeleton Queen would attack whoever caused the most damage, so they joked about Anika being completely safe. Jokes aside, they all had to be very careful, because at regular intervals the Queen would let out a high-pitched scream. It was Lilia''s job to create a magical barrier around them, so she had to get close, and everybody had to get inside the area to be protected from the scream.


    Lilia showed them what it looked like when she was preparing her barrier spell. It looked beautiful, almost like a giant soap bubble spreading out from where she stood. She explained that it would take a lot of her mana to keep it up, so she would only put it up at the last minute and would need everybody to get inside quickly.


    The plan was for Hamish and Anika to stand at the back, Lilia somewhere in the middle. Beth and Felix would be up at the front, keeping the attention of the Skeleton Queen focused on them. Felix would look out for the moments when the Queen was preparing to scream and would tell everyone to gather around Lilia for the protection of her spell. Other than that, there were no further instructions. Anika felt like a spare wheel. Apparently, it was pointless for her to even shoot at the Queen or any of the skeletons they had taken care of up until now. None of them could be damaged by physical damage alone. Her only saving grace was that Beth was proving to be a useful part of the group, and she could see that her companion was loving every minute.


    Felix checked that everyone was ready, went into stealth, then drifted into the throne room. At his signal, Beth followed him and they all entered the room. When Beth was halfway across the floor, in the spot where Lilia was supposed to stay, the Skeleton Queen appeared. She was massive and slightly transparent. She wore a long silk cloak and a golden crown on her head. In one hand she carried an enormous sword, and in the other hand a long staff. She started the encounter by laughing. It was a dark and hollow cackle that chilled Anika''s bones. Then the fighting began.


    Felix shouted that Beth needed to bring the Queen back to the far end of the room where he was standing. She did so without having to be asked twice.


    When the moment came that Anika had been waiting for, Felix shouted: "Get ready!"


    They all huddled around Lilia as she was preparing her magical barrier. They made it in time, with a few seconds to spare, before the Skeleton Queen let out an ear deafening screech. None of them took any damage, but the barrier did little to muffle the sound. As soon she had finished her unique ability, the fighting resumed and Felix and Beth drew her to the back of the room.


    Anika was keeping an eye on the Skeleton Queen''s health bar, at this point they had only taken about 10% of it off.


    They continued what seemed like quite a mechanical sequence, everyone was doing their job perfectly, apart from her. She could do nothing except stay out of the way and make sure she got inside Lilia''s barrier at the right time. When it seemed like they were close to getting the better of the Queen, Lilia became distracted. Something was wrong.


    "Shit, I need more mana potions. Hamish, I''m out of mana!"


    Hamish threw two potions to her and they carried on fighting, but it didn''t take long before she sounded like she was in trouble again.


    "I need more. I can''t keep putting these barriers up any longer, I need more potions."


    "That''s all I''ve got," Hamish said.


    "Guys we''re screwed, she''s still got about 15% health left and I can''t put up any more barriers. Get ready to take some serious damage."


    Hamish stepped closer and waved his arms around in a frenzy, casting healing spells on everyone. He looked like a conductor in an orchestra.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "I can''t heal everyone through this, I''ve tried it before." He went as close as possible to the action and looked back at Lilia and Anika with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sorry guys, I''m just going to focus on Felix and Beth now, with any luck I can get them through it.


    Lilia threw up her arms in frustration.


    Anika felt terrible, but there was nothing she could do. Lilia had moved towards the back of the room and stayed close to her, most likely feeling equally useless.


    "Get ready! Here she goes again."


    Felix had cupped one ear with his hand and was turning his face away from the Queen while stabbing at her with the blade in his other hand. Hamish was cupping both of his ears with his hands, kneeling down and turning away. When Lilia did the same, Anika followed suit. They were about to experience the full force of the Skeleton Queen''s scream.


    The noise from metal striking metal had stopped when the Queen prepared her scream, everybody braced themselves. They had been through this part several times, but this time there was no high-pitched noise. The only thing that could be heard was the brutal roar from Beth as she got on her back legs and slapped the skeleton Queen with both of her strong paws.


    For a few moments, it was just Beth and the Skeleton Queen fighting each other. Felix was the first to turn his gaze back to the action and to wonder what was going on.


    "What the fuck just happened?" He didn''t wait for an answer but dove straight back into the action with his daggers and another combination of vicious attacks.


    "We are still alive! Only 5% to go. Everyone throw what you''ve got at her, she''s going down."


    Hamish stepped a little further away from the action and continued making sure that Felix and Beth were getting all the attention they needed.


    With only 1% to go, the Skeleton Queen got ready to produce another one of her signature moves. Everybody braced themselves again, except for Felix who was slicing and dicing at the target, doing his best to take her down before she could complete her spell.


    This time Anika felt something from Beth. It was as if Beth knew what to do and had it covered. It made her relax, and she didn''t even bother covering her ears. Although she couldn''t hear Beth explaining it to her, she got a tremendous sense that Beth had figured out what to do about the Skeleton Queen and was telling her not to be worried. She''d figured out how to defeat her.


    Beth got on her hind legs, roared when everything went quiet and smacked the Queen across the face like before. The Queen looked surprised and annoyed that she couldn''t get her ability to work, and Anika noticed a show of desperation in the Queen''s face.


    Moments later the Skeleton Queen was dead and everybody could sigh with relief.


    When the Queen died, Anika had received enough experience points to gain another level. She felt the familiar rush as her stats increased. She checked her character sheet and saw she was now level 5, on top of that, she was already a third of the way to level 6.


    "Congrats on the level up," Felix said as he went to loot the Queen.


    "Was that a bug? Lilia said. "I think we just got really lucky. Must have been a glitch or something, but I''m not going to complain."


    Beth made her way back to Anika to get a hug and some praise for her hard work. She was over the moon with how everything had gone, she was the star of the show and Anika couldn''t be more proud of her.


    "Here we go. I found it. Check out the logs guys. It was Beth who silenced the Queen for us. Look at that, she was doing tons of damage and silenced the Queen with her Bash ability the last two times. She''s a fucking hero."


    At first, Anika wasn''t sure what combat logs they were talking about. But it only took a few moments of looking through her character screen before she found it. There was an incredible amount of information about their fight available. Everything from who was hit, how much damage they took and what abilities were being used. There it was, Beth had saved the day by using an ability called Bash. There was a hyperlink in the combat log which showed that her Bash ability could silence several spells. The only restriction was a cooldown timer of 30 seconds, and a few schools of magic that couldn''t be silenced. How Beth had learned an ability without Anika realising was a mystery. Perhaps she had it all along, Anika couldn''t be sure.


    "Right we''ve got a bit of gold, some schematics and a couple of items you guys might want."


    Felix looked like he had finished looting the Queen and was joining them in the centre of the room. He threw a pair of boots at Anika, along with a small purse of coins. She inspected the boots and saw they were a nice upgrade compared to what she was wearing.


    You receive item: Nightmare Leather Sprinters


    +15 Agility


    +10 Speed


    She was thrilled with her loot and thanked Felix for the coins, quietly hoping they would continue their progress.

 Chapter 26

    Lilia was complaining about not wanting to continue, the main reason being she was out of mana potions. After some negotiation, it was decided that they would continue down into the second level. At least until they died. Hamish seemed to think that clearing up the mobs until they reached the second boss would not be a problem. But, he expressed doubts about whether they could take on the Wurm. The Wurm was the next boss at the end of the catacombs.


    They made real progress, mostly because of the teamwork between Beth and Lilia. Beth would run along the corridors and into the small spaces where oozes were hiding. When they were all attacking her, Lilia would shower them in what appeared to be bolts of ice. The oozes took a lot of damage from this, and the new duo hardly needed any support from Felix, Hamish or Anika. Anika was pleased that her shots were doing some damage, she felt less like a spare wheel, although the damage she was doing was nothing compared to Lilia''s magic.


    Everything was running smoothly, there were no surprises. Hamish only had to focus on keeping Beth at full health because nobody else was taking much as they made their way through the winding corridors of the catacombs.


    The only thing that appeared to slow them down was the fact that Felix was always stopping to collect something from the oozes. When Anika asked him what he was doing, he explained that he could distil some of the goo they released. He could make it into a potent poison.


    "It''s an alchemy poison, and it works well against non-magical creatures."


    It must have been valuable because he didn''t leave a single ooze untouched and was almost feverish in his attempts to harvest the goo he was talking about.


    "If you want, I''ll try to make you some for your arrows. I think it''ll work, you just need a different quiver. Something that can hold the poison without leaking onto your back."


    That sounded interesting. She hadn''t thought of her arrows being dipped in poison until now. She told him she would be grateful if he could try. She would speak to a leatherworker about what kind of quiver would be needed.


    Despite Felix slowing them down due to his frantic goo harvesting, Anika figured that it had taken them less than half an hour before they had cleared their way into a massive cellar. They were now standing at the top of a large hole in the floor, which was paved with rough stones. A staircase went down into what looked like a wet and damp space. A few torches lit the way, but it was hard to see how large the space below them was.


    Hamish took it upon himself to remind them what they were about to see. He explained that the Wurm was somewhere down below. It was a massive, blue snake-like monster. It would attack like any other boss, but at regular intervals, it would disappear into the ground and reappear at a random spot. Once it reappeared, the aggro levels would reset, so everyone had to be careful about attacking it straight away. This was where it got tricky. Beth had done a fantastic job so far in making sure that the skeleton Queen and the mobs they had encountered, were attacking her, instead of everyone else. But this time they couldn''t rely on her to keep the boss focused on her exclusively. When the aggro levels were reset, not only did everyone have to be careful about who the Wurm was attacking, anyone standing close enough to it would also get a nasty bite.


    It seemed that all three of her group members were worried that she would die from just one of these bites, so they told her to stand as far back as possible and to make sure she ran away when the Wurm reappeared. The main worry was that if Anika took so much damage she died, Beth would die as well, and they would be left with nobody strong enough to soak up the rest of the damage. Hamish suggested that he would assume the Wurm would appear close to her every time and make sure she was topped up and at full health at all times and making sure she had one of the heal over time spells on her to mitigate the damage.


    Anika was ready to try anything and listened intently to the instructions. She could tell that it was almost guaranteed she would reach level 6 after clearing this boss, she was only about 10% of her way there. The other three did not look confident at their prospects.


    With Beth leading the way, they all descended the wooden staircase. It felt as if the stairs would crumble underneath their feet because everything was so wet and it was evident the wood they were stepping on was rotten. Everyone was nervous, they knew that there was a good chance Anika wouldn''t survive, and it sounded like that would be the end of their expedition. Lilia had already clarified that she wouldn''t be making the trip back to the dungeon anytime soon without a proper group. Her resurrection point was over half a day travel away.


    When they got into the room, Anika noticed that the entire floor was covered in puddles.


    "Don''t step in the puddles, they can be deeper than you might think." Felix was showing them how to sidestep and hop from one dry area to the next. Beth had also learned that she should stay away from the puddles, one of them almost swallowed her whole when she stepped into it.


    There was still no sign of the Wurm. Anika had an eerie feeling of anticipation and dread, by the looks on her companions'' faces it was a feeling shared among all of them. Even Beth wasn''t looking her usual self, not cowering, but not confident in her stride. When the ground trembled, Anika knew the action was about to begin. She had positioned herself along the wall in the corner of the dark and damp room, and she could hardly see a hand in front of her because it was so dark.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    When the Wurm showed itself, Anika felt as if they may have bitten off more than they could chew. It was absolutely massive and covered in blue scales which made her think it would be impossible to kill. Its head comprised an enormous mouth, with a long row of sharp teeth. She couldn''t see its eyes anywhere, they must have been hidden somewhere behind the scales covering the rest of its body. Frankly, it was hideous.


    It entered the room from one of the puddles in the middle of the floor and had a look at its surroundings. Beth didn''t waste any time, she roared and charged straight into battle. Felix followed suit, got behind it, and started slicing and dicing at the thick armour on its back. Before locking onto the creature and letting her arrows fly, she noticed that each attack from the Wurm was taking at least 10% of Beth''s health away. From the get go, Hamish was busy healing to make sure that Beth could stay alive.


    The first time the Wurm descended into the floor through one of the puddles, they were all able to take a breather and rearrange themselves around the dry parts of the floor. It was important that they spread themselves out according to Hamish. With everyone at full health again, it was just a matter of waiting to see when and where it would reappear. Before it did, the floors rumbled, and tiny waves splashed across the puddles all around them.


    The Wurm reappeared right in between Felix and Beth, and as soon as it had looked around, it chose Felix as its target for the bite Hamish had told them all about. It moved across the floor at quite a fast pace, there was nothing Felix could have done to move out of the way. In one giant chopping motion, its head launched itself at Felix, and he took a massive amount of damage. Anika figured that he only had about 10% left. Luckily, Hamish was ready with his spells and Beth moved in with a charge to draw the attention away from Felix. They had survived the first sequence from the boss, but it felt to Anika like it was a close call. Felix might have been lucky to survive, but he was level 10 and appeared to have a much larger health pool than Anika did. She was getting anxious that it would all be over if she were unlucky enough to be the closest target the next time the Wurm went through its sequence.


    Instead of continuing to cause the creature damage, she looked around and to see if there was some way she could escape or move to quickly if she was unlucky enough to be the Wurm''s next target. To her dismay, there was nowhere to run. Her back would be against the cold stone wall and judging by the speed of the Wurm, she could not make it very far when it resurfaced. For reasons she couldn''t explain when she thought about it later, she pulled out a flint and tinder and made small flashes to light her surroundings up. She could see that the stone wall behind her was not very even, it was as if part of it had caved in and there were rocks and rubble on the floor next to her. With a combination of lighting her way and feeling the edge of the wall with her fingers, she got the sense that there was a possibility she could move into the part of the wall that had caved in. It was as if there was a small ledge, and she wondered if this would be enough to put the necessary distance between her and the Wurm in case it attacked her the next time.


    She didn''t have any time to consider alternatives. When she looked back at the fighting, she saw the Wurm disappear into one of the puddles and watched as her companions took a breather and nodded at each other in preparation for the next attack. She decided not to wait around and climbed up to the ledge and squeezed herself inside it. She was now in a position where her elbows had enough room to still shoot her arrows, and she felt safer than before.


    When the worm reappeared, it was clear that she had made a brilliant decision. It came out of a puddle close to where she had been standing, she would have been an obvious target for it if she had stayed where she was. It looked around at everyone, and Anika could see it was trying to decide between going for her or Lilia. That she was out of the way on a ledge didn''t seem to put the creature off. It had made its decision and was heading straight for her, mouth wide open with sharp slimy teeth, ready to attack.


    Her first instinct was to draw her bow and let the arrows loose, but she remembered what Hamish had said about the aggro levels resetting. If she caused damage to it before anyone else, she would commit suicide right there and then. She felt utterly hopeless, she couldn''t attack, there was no way for her to defend herself, and she knew she was only seconds away from taking enough damage to kill her outright.


    Before she closed her eyes in anticipation of the attack, she saw that Beth was right behind the beast doing her best to distract it. Then she heard a thundering crunch. The Wurm''s bite had caught part of the ledge and a massive amount of the stones below her. She opened her eyes just in time to see that its mouth was full of stones which it spat out and was about to get ready for a second bite. At this time the damage from Beth and Felix behind the creature must have been enough to distract it. It turned around and attacked Beth in the same way it had done so before.


    Anika counted herself very lucky, placing herself on that ledge had saved them this time. She then wondered if the AI behind this creature was bright enough to remember where she was and if it would come back for her. She couldn''t think of a better plan, so she stayed put and continued to attack the beast from her vantage point.


    The time between the Wurm''s special attacks had decreased. It was at around 50% health now, but the pressure was building because they didn''t have the time to recover their health and adjust their positions in between each attack. Hamish did a phenomenal job of keeping everyone alive, it was clear that he was working harder than anyone else in the room. His first priority was always to make sure that Beth was fully healed, but it didn''t take long before even that became a challenge. The Wurm would strike again before they had a chance to breathe.


    Anika had been lucky that the recent attacks had not been directed at her, but when the worm had what looked like 15% of its health left, she found herself confronted by it again. This time it didn''t strike her immediately. It made its way over to her and cocked its head sideways, studying the space she was in and working out the correct angle for it to bite from.


    It craned its neck and tilted its head further, then it went in for the attack. In that split second, Anika knew she would be done for, so she tucked her arms and legs close to her body and rolled off the ledge, dropping onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. The fall was painful as she landed on her back on a large boulder and smashed her head on the floor.

 Chapter 27

    When she came to her senses again, she realised that her escape had worked.


    The Wurm had taken another massive bite out of the wall behind her, and rubble was still rolling down on top of her. She wasn''t safe yet though, the Wurm spat out the stones and shook its head, still frustrated that it could not hurt her. She could see that her companions were making their way over and that they were pouring everything they had into the beast hoping to attract its attention. It was taking damage, but it looked like whatever mechanics had been programmed for it to turn around and attack the source of damage, was being ignored. It made fizzing and crackling sounds through its slimy mouth, clearly in some pain but it didn''t turn around. She figured it was looking for her but because of where she was lying and the amount of rubble from the walls on top of her; it wasn''t able to see exactly where she was. She decided to lay still. With the face of the Wurm only inches from her, she could see two holes which must have been its nostrils. They were sucking in the air, sniffing, hoping to seek her out.


    "What''s going on Anika, are you all right?"


    She could hear Beth roaring with rage and Felix shouting at her from behind the Wurm.


    Anika didn''t want to push her luck by shouting a reply, but she also couldn''t just lie there doing nothing. It wouldn''t be long before the Wurm had figured out where she was and from this distance, it could swallow her in one bite if it wanted to. At the same time, the nostrils of the beast were only within arms reach and there were no protective scales in front of the holes.


    Thinking no further, she stabbed her knife as deep as she could into one nostril. The beast felt that. It jolted its head backwards, and she lost her grip on the knife.Then she got on her knees and tried to slide along the wall to get as far away from it as possible.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Good work, we''ve got it now. Give it everything you''ve got." Felix shouted.


    She could see that the Wurm had less than 10% health left, so if they were lucky, they could finish it before it went under the ground again. She found a good dry patch and stood up to let her arrows fly as fast as possible.


    With only 2% of its health left, the beasts went under the ground again. The ground rumbled, signalling to everyone it was about to reappear almost as fast as it went away. Instead of bracing himself, Felix walked around as if he was looking for something on the ground.


    "Everybody come over here," he motioned to the ground in front of him, which was a large area of dry cobblestone. Anika joined the others and waited for his instructions. Whatever he had planned, it was a different tactic from before.


    "We missed our chance guys, I''ve seen this thing happen before. My guess is that it will come out of the ground with more health, it''ll be back at 10%. We need to stay in the same spot and not worry about who gets hit first. Whatever happens, we need to take it down before it has another chance to go underground."


    Just as he had finished his sentence, the Wurm reappeared a short distance from them. There was no way of telling who it would target, but Beth charged ahead and did her best to distract it before it reached them. It didn''t take any notice of her and just kept moving towards them.


    "Don''t worry about the aggro guys, just hit it with everything you''ve got and pray that we survive this last part."


    Felix was braced for the attack with what looked like a green hue covering his boots and the lower parts of his legs. Right before the Wurm was within range of taking a bite, Felix moved two steps to the side, which made it clear that the worm was targeting him. As it opened its jaws and moved its head back to prepare for the strike, Felix was gone in a flash. The Wurm''s attack landed right where he had stood, but to their relief, he hadn''t been hit. He was already on the side of it, stabbing and slicing frantically at its armour. Everybody joined in now, Beth with her massive paws, Lilia with her fireballs and Anika with her basic arrows.


    They got the better of the Wurm in the very nick of time. It was half way through a puddle, about to do its disappearing act, when it received a fatal blow from Felix and his daggers. They all sat around the corpse panting for a few moments after the fight. It had been exhausting, mentally and physically, and nobody was in high enough spirits to congratulate each other just yet.

 Chapter 28

    The loot from the Catacombs Wurm was shared out by Felix like before. Everyone was happy with their rewards and a decent portion of coins. Anika received a set of bracers with a higher armour rating than any of her other items put together.


    Wurm Scale Bracers:


    45+ armour


    After everyone had finished equipping their new items, there was an awkward silence. The next question would be whether they would continue, or if they had had enough and would go their separate ways. Anika had levelled up again when the worm died, and with the success they had been having so far, she was keen to continue. There would not be a better way for her to gain experience points without these guys, and she was worried that once the group had split up, she might not find another one that would be so willing for her to tag along.


    "We''ve come this far. What does everyone say we continue?" Felix looked like he was ready to proceed, and he directed his question at Lilia in particular.


    Lilia looked at them and smiled. "Well, I know I''ve been hesitant about doing this run, but considering our luck so far and the level of the gear that has been dropping, I''m keen to keep going. We''ve got nothing to lose right?" She looked around at them, almost apologetically.


    "I''m game if you guys are. What about you Anika, had enough yet?" Hamish said.


    Anika didn''t think she needed to be asked, but she nodded in agreement and waited for Felix to give his approval.


    "That''s settled them," Felix said, "but it doesn''t get any easier from here. I hope you realise that guys."


    He explained what they would be up against next, mostly for the benefit of Anika and Beth. The last boss they would face was the Skeleton King. But before reaching him, they would have to make their way up through a series of corridors and rooms. Their opponents would be hard to deal with because they were a mixture of skeleton Warriors and Mages. Beth would have to tank the Warriors and Felix wanted her to have a go at silencing the Mages. For this to work out, Beth would be a very busy girl. Other than that it was just important that they took it easy and remained in control. The Warriors could hit very hard, and the Mages had many spells available that would incapacitate them or disable some of their abilities.


    When they set off, Anika took time to have a look at her new stats and skill points. She still had points to allocate and wanted to have a look at her options as they were making their way up a set of narrow stairs. This was when she noticed that her fatigue levels had reached 80%. This got her worried. She didn''t intend to play at such high levels and knew she would be feeling rough on the other side if she pushed it any further. The most sensible thing to do would be to log out right now. She just couldn''t get herself to do it. These guys had let her come along to take advantage of the experience points she was getting, and Felix had been more than fair in distributing out the rewards from their efforts. Logging out now would let these guys down, so she kept going, although it was against her better judgement.


    The first few rooms they had to clear were not as challenging as she had feared. Beth figured out what she had to do with the Mages, putting her Bash ability to good use. Once they were comfortable with their new opponents, and it felt they were making good progress, the real challenge became the sheer number of targets they had to deal with. Before long, Beth didn''t have any time to silence the Mages. This meant that they were not only taking damage from the Warriors but occasionally both Lilia and Hamish could not cast any spells themselves.


    Anika was responsible for killing the Mages, and she was getting a sense of why they were so dangerous. Their attention was primarily focused on Hamish, and they would cast a spell that disabled the majority of his healing powers. So although they didn''t do as much direct damage, the consequence of their actions meant that the entire group lost a great deal more health than they would have. Things got close a couple of times. Felix would shout out in anger he needed healing, and Beth would get dangerously close to dying on a couple of occasions.


    Although it didn''t seem like Anika was a target of any of their spells, she had a feeling that they were affecting her. It was as if they were infecting her with some fear or doubt, and the only reason she noticed this, was because of the sense of relief she felt every time the last Mage in a room had died. Once they entered another room, and she was targeting one of them, she got this incredible sense of anxiety and figured that it was some kind of effect from the Mages. She made a mental note to look through the combat logs for this effect if such a thing was even recorded.


    When the group arrived on the threshold of what would be their last encounter, Felix stopped everyone outside a large wooden door for a briefing.


    "This is the last bit guys, behind those doors there is a massive library and a ridiculous amount of Mages to take care of. This fight was broken down into two phases. In the first one, we have to kill all the Mages while Beth is tanking the Skeleton King. Once they are gone, he will summon a couple of Warriors to fight for him. These guys are much harder than the ones we have taken care of so far. When he summons the special Warriors, Beth needs to tank them, and one of us has to move the King away from the primary fight. There is no point in dealing any real damage to the King until we have him alone because he will gain health as long as his minions are alive."


    Anika could tell that Beth understood the instructions. When Felix had finished, she locked eyes with Anika and rubbed herself against her leg. It was so comforting to know Beth was there, and that she was ready to take on the task at hand.


    "She''s a bright girl," Hamish said, "I think she knows what the plan is. Remember guys, Beth is my first priority. If she dies we all die, so don''t be offended if I can''t help you out when things turn sour."This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "Understood. Is everyone ready to give this a shot?" Felix locked eyes with everyone, checking that they were willing to proceed.


    Anika looked at her fatigue levels, they were at 91% now. She already felt that she had committed to the group, so she hoped that she wouldn''t get logged out when she hit maximum fatigue. She supposed that the risk was worth it. She was looking at gaining another level after this fight, and there was no way she thought it was possible to achieve three levels in a day without being part of this group.


    When they entered through the large wooden door, a massive room opened up in front of them. Although it was a library, it was nothing like the bright spaces of neatly ordered books Anika was used to. This place was dark and musty, despite being lit by candles along the columns and pillars running from the back of the room to the front. There were books and bookshelves scattered everywhere. It was a complete mess.


    They took their time and wandered down the middle aisle, with a raised platform in their sights at the end of the room. Anika checked her sides, and she could see small doorways along the walls on either side of her.


    The skeleton King appeared from behind a large desk in the corner of the room. They all stopped and waited for the action to begin. The King got up from his seat, and they could hear the clinking of two giant swords hanging by his side. He was twice the size of Hamish, who was the tallest of the group. His armour was made of what looked like old-fashioned chain-mail, but it had lots of dents and dust on it and no shine to it.


    "You are here to disturb my studies?"


    The voice of the skeleton King was dark and hollow, it gave Anika a chill down her spine.


    "For this, you will pay with your lives."


    The skeleton King drew both of his swords and swung them by his side while stretching his back and shoulder blades. He then moved to the centre of the room, tilted his head to the side and crunched the bones in his spine. The sound of his bones cracking echoed throughout the library.


    Beth looked back, unsure if she had missed a cue to attack. Felix just shook his head, signalling to her she should wait, while he looked around the room for another target.


    At that moment they heard the creaking of hinges from a door to their right. A skeletal mage appeared behind the door, and the Mage was already in the middle of casting a spell.


    "Beth! Go!"


    Felix was halfway across the room to where the Mage was when it unleashed a spell at him. It didn''t seem to do any damage, but it locked him in place, and Anika could hear a faint chuckle as the mage was ready to cast a second spell. Lilia had seen what was going on and got herself into position. It looked like she was getting ready to cast her barrier again. Hamish and Anika both spotted this and moved into position, while Beth was taking care of the Skeleton King.


    As with the previous fights, it took two minutes for them to get into their stride, but before long they had worked out a sequence that enabled them to get the better of their opponents. Lilia warned them she wouldn''t be able to create many barriers, so they had to suffer some of the spells from the other Mages without protection. It didn''t take long for Anika to realise that her arrows were not doing any damage like before, but instead of standing around like a spare wheel again, she made herself the target of their enemies a couple of times and let herself become incapacitated so that the others could focus on dealing damage.


    When the first phase was over, and the Mages had been tricked and defeated, the Skeleton King summoned three large Warriors to fight for him. With no need for instructions, Beth did what was expected of her. She grabbed their attention and brought them into the centre of the room for her and Felix to take care of. Neither Lilia nor Hamish looked like they knew what to do about the Skeleton King, so Anika volunteered in the same way she had done with the Mages. The only way she could think of to get the Skeleton King to attack her was to pick up the old books from the floor, light them on fire from the candles and throw them at him. He didn''t like that very much and moved towards her with a raised sword. To her surprise, he wasn''t quick, it was nothing like the Wurm in the Catacombs they had just faced. She realised that she could draw him out into the corners of the library and she would have enough time to prepare another burning book before he would reach her. She could then throw the book at him to keep him focused on her and then run to the other corner of the library. When Hamish and Lilia saw what she was doing, they put all of their efforts into the Warriors that Beth and Felix were fighting.


    It felt as if everything was going well, Anika could see they were getting close to taking down the first of the Warriors, so she knew all she had to do was keep up her little trick and wait for the others to die. However, the Skeleton King was getting frustrated. He was not happy that nobody was putting up a fair fight. At first, he tried to cut her off as she was making her way from one corner to the next, he took a large swing at her and even tossed his sword in her direction out of sheer frustration. This bought her a little more time, but she was getting worried about what he would do next.


    "Keep it up Anika, we''ll come and take him off you soon," Felix shouted.


    The Skeleton King had pushed large bookshelves over and had cornered Anika in one side of the room. He had figured out that if she could continue running around like this, he would get nowhere. When Anika realised that she had nowhere to go, she called out.


    "Guys! I''m stuck here, I need help."


    There was nothing they could do in time, so she took a massive hit to the chest and pinned to the floor with her back against a mess of books and broken shelving. By the time they got to her with the two remaining Warriors in tow, she had taken another hit and was getting close to 0%. Hamish did his best to top her up again, but Beth was now taking damage from both of the Warriors and the King himself, so he decided to just focus on Beth.


    Everything that happened next was a blur. Anika had been disorientated from the attack by the King, and as she got back to her feet, her entire vision was flashing, and the borders of her vision were pulsing with a red warning light.


    Health Warning: Fatigue Level 97%


    Shit, she thought to herself. She would have to take it easy just to survive until the end of the fight, and that would be very optimistic. She wondered if there was any special penalty, other than being logged out when she reached 100% fatigue. Then she got images in her mind of waking up back in the real world with a massive mess in her suit and looking like the scrawny young man she had seen in the news a while ago. There was no other option though, she had to wait it out and hope for the best. Quitting now was not an option, come what may.


    When the last two Warriors were taken care of, and the ultimate fight against the Skeleton King began, Anika felt that her movements were much slower and she was struggling to think. Hopefully, the other guys would understand that she couldn''t join in the fight. Luckily, Beth didn''t appear to be affected and continued fighting like a champion.


    When the Skeleton King died, Anika felt the rush she was expecting from levelling up. She was about to explain her situation, but before she could say or do anything, her entire vision blacked out and she lost her connection with the virtual world.

 Chapter 29

    When Anika regained consciousness and became aware of herself in the real world, she was regretting her decision not to log out earlier. She took off her visor and realised that she had made a complete mess of her haptic suit, then she pictured the embarrassment of having to ask the staff for a new one. She felt drained. When she got out of the rig, her legs were almost useless. She had pins and needles throughout her lower body, and she took a good five minutes before she could put any weight on her legs and make it to the bathroom.


    She drank from the tap to quench her thirst and cleaned herself up. She also felt ravenously hungry and started plucking up the courage to do what she could to clean up the mess. She planned to get some food and then have a good think about her options. She knew it was her own fault; she had pushed herself to the limit, and she felt fortunate that the game had logged her out when it did. Playing at such high intensity had taken its toll on her body.


    The attendant who handed her a new suit, along with a bill for cleaning the one she had soiled, didn''t make any comments or look surprised at what had happened. He was professional about everything. She thought despite the warnings they gave her, this must be quite a common occurrence. She would not let this happen again. Not only did she feel horrible, but the embarrassment was more than she could take.


    Anika took the next day off to recuperate. Since it was now becoming clear that finding her son would be a long-term project, there were a few practical things she had to take care of. It was more than likely that if she continued playing at this rate, she would lose her job. They would not accept her excuses for more than a week or two after which they would need to see a report from the doctor. She wondered what would be said about a self-induced lack of sleep and energy, from playing a virtual reality game. She didn''t have an excuse.


    With a decision to continue with her quest to find her son, she wondered how long it would be until it became more economical to purchase her own rig, and set it up in her apartment. She had a vague idea of the costs from all the money she had spent on Ted over the last few years, but she also knew renting equipment, and the rig from this VR centre was just as bad as pouring money down the drain. At least if she invested in her own equipment, it could be sold off when she had found her son, and she would quit the game for good.


    She then had a thought which scared her. There was a part of her that couldn''t accept that she would no longer be playing the game. She would no longer be feeling the rush from levelling her character or the excitement of diving into battle with the mobs and bosses from dungeons like the nightmare caverns. What would happen to Beth? They had become so attached. Would she miss her? She even pictured herself playing the game with her son for a couple of moments before snapping out of it. She then shook her head and realised that even thinking about that was ridiculous.


    When Anika logged back into the game, she found herself in the familiar surroundings of her bed in Oakridge. She didn''t know what she should have expected but figured that the game had treated the forced logout due to her fatigue as if she had died in the game. Although she was a couple of levels higher and had picked up some interesting skills from the Leatherworker she met on the way to the nightmare caverns, it still felt like a massive setback.


    She now realised how important it was to be strategic about what place you set as a resurrection point. Then she made a determination to get to Windfall city with no further distractions.


    After travelling along the main road, she spotted the city gates. Behind the gates, in the distance, she could see two massive towers at either side of an additional wall. This place was fortified and looked like it could withstand an invasion with no trouble.


    Ralph had told her to seek out the League of Hunters when she got to the city, but first, she needed to find a room in a tavern. This would ensure that the trip here would not be wasted, in case she ended up dying again.


    The guards at the gate checked her papers and everything was in order. The advice Ben had given her about how to access different areas of the game had proved useful, and the map he had provided her which led to Windfall city. Purchasing a map of the city from the guards was compulsory. Otherwise, they would not let her through. The cost was reasonable, and she had made an additional bit of profit from running through the dungeons, so the cost was not an issue.


    After renting a room in what looked like a decent tavern, Anika made her way to the Explorers Guild without too much trouble. They had an entire section of the city dedicated to them. On arrival, she was greeted by a small market for exotic trinkets and other things that looked somewhat edible. There were also a few houses which looked like cartographers lived and worked there, with people moving in and out carrying bits of parchment and various drawing and inking tools.


    The Explorers'' Guild headquarters was a large house in the middle of the square, and it looked to be three stories high. She made her way up the stone steps and saw the first NPC who looked like he could help at the top of the stairs.


    "I''m looking to buy a map of Gliphos, can you tell me where I should go?" All Anika knew was that she could get maps from this place, she did not understand how anything worked.


    "Welcome to the Explorers Guild. Gliphos eh? Can''t say I have heard of that location, but the best person to see is someone in the trading department. It is on the first floor, just make your way up the stairs right ahead and follow your nose."Stolen story; please report.


    She did as he suggested and walked up to the first floor. To get there, she had to move through a bustling space, full of NPC''s and players milling around talking loudly about quests, objectives and the names of continents and zones she had never come across before. It was making sense to her that if the various regions and zones were shifting, having the latest and most reliable information about the different objectives throughout the game was quite an undertaking. She figured that the Explorer''s Guild was the central organisation for keeping track of the changes in Everscape.


    When she found the trading section, she was confronted with two booths, spotting an empty one with an attendant and no customers, she enquired about a map of Gliphos.


    "Gliphos you say? I think I know that place, but I haven''t seen anyone from there for a long time. Maybe the best thing I can do is give you a transport route. Wait here a moment and let me have a look."


    The man she had been speaking to was a stocky dwarf with a long black beard. His face looked worn and weatherbeaten. But then again, she had never seen a young dwarf before. As he was ruffling through boxes and folders on his side of the counter, she wondered if dwarves were born with wrinkly skin and fully grown beards.


    Shortly afterwards, he returned with two rolled up bits of parchment. They looked old and well used.


    "Here we are, Gliphos. Like I said, I don''t have anything that''ll show you what the region is like or how the zones are arranged. But I can show you how to get there."


    He unrolled one map and showed her a large continent with water surrounding it. At the bottom of the map, there was another section of land with a dotted line from the coast, across the water and onto the Gliphos continent.


    "This here is Belhaven, from there you can get a boat to Gliphos."


    He gently rubbed the map, removing some of the oil and dirt which had collected in the corner. She could now see the area labelled Belhaven.


    "And this one right here," he said, unrolling another parchment, "is how you will get to Belhaven. Do you ride?" She was looking at the second parchment. In the middle was Windfall city, and to the north-west, where the attendant was pointing his finger, she could see Belhaven.


    " No," she said, "I don''t think I have learnt that skill yet." He studied her for a few moments.


    "Riding is taught to adventurers who have more experience. You might stay close to our precious city and work up the experience you will need before embarking on your journey. Belhaven is at least two days ride from here if you go at a full trot with no rest. Now, your legs are longer than mine, but I don''t see you making that journey in less than two weeks if you go by foot."


    "Okay. I''ll take the maps, can you tell me where I might learn to ride a horse?"


    "That''ll be one gold a piece. As for riding, you''ll find a riding trainer at most of the stables outside of the city walls."


    Anika checked her finances. She only had a little over two gold coins to her name, it felt like an awful lot of money for a simple map. Especially now she had already seen where she was going. Surely she could just memorise the information and make her way there by herself?


    "I''m afraid that is a little outside of my budget," she said. "Also, I don''t need the map of Gliphos do I? It doesn''t show me anything useful, other than that there is a boat link from Belhaven across the water."


    He looked at her with a slightly condescending smile.


    "Yes, I can see how you might think so. Let me explain to you how the maps work. I would forgive you for thinking that once you saw the route to take, you could just make your own way there without these maps in your possession. The trouble is, once you get outside of an area you haven''t explored yourself, you will be prevented from going any further. The same goes for the transport link to Gliphos, it won''t be available to you unless you have the map. Is that making sense?"


    He rolled up both of the maps and put them on the table in front of him, pushing them towards her.


    "Think of it like this, a map is more than just a picture showing you where to go. Think of it as a key which unlocks the door. Except in this example, it is a key that is opening the various territories and regions throughout our beautiful world."


    Anika thought about this for a while and tried to reconcile it with what Ben had told her when they were back in Oakridge. She had watched her own map, the one accessible from her menu, gain the colours and contours of the terrain as soon as she had received the map of Windfall city.


    "So there is no way around it? I have to fork over nearly all the money I have. Otherwise, I won''t have access to get to where I want?"


    She wasn''t expecting an answer, and the dwarf didn''t provide one for her.


    "On top of that, I still don''t know how to get around once I get to Gliphos. Where do I get a map of the continent?"


    "For that, my dear, you will need to find an adventurer who has been to the area. Preferably somebody who has been there recently, otherwise the information they provide to you will be out of date and worthless to you. Like I said, we don''t have the information in-house, but I recommend that you speak to some of the other players. Try downstairs, you can put up a request on the notice board. If you don''t have any luck, you could also try the Explorer''s Tavern, ask around in there if anybody has been to Gliphos recently."


    Anika didn''t feel she had any options, so she handed over payment and grabbed both of the maps. She felt like she had just been robbed. On her way down to the ground floor, she checked her map from the menu bar. She could see everything north of Windfall city, and a good chunk of the Western region of the continent she was on. To get to Belhaven, she would have to travel across what looked like some vast plains, a few hills and an area marked as Swampy Marshes. Judging by the distance she had already moved, it seemed like the dwarf was right. It would take at least two weeks to cover by foot. Unless she was mistaken, it could also take longer than two days to ride that far, but she supposed that would depend on the speed of the horse.


    When she arrived downstairs, she asked around and was given instructions on how to request a map from the Explorers Guild. She placed a card with the word Gliphos on it onto a noticeboard and was told to check back in case someone had accepted her request. They would leave an additional note telling her where to find them and what the price would be.


    After feeling like she had done what she could, she went to inquire about learning how to ride.

 Chapter 30

    The nearest riding stables were a short distance outside of the main gates she had come in through. The stables were huge, and she realised there were more than horses available to purchase and ride. Stable boys were dragging four-legged animals as large as elephants around, there were also creatures that looked similar to ostriches and some smaller and more practical ones that appeared to be mules of varying sizes and length. After asking around, she was told where to find the riding school.


    "Excuse me, are you the right person to inquire about learning to ride a horse?"


    She had found a young man, human and good looking, who was supposed to be the riding trainer. He was busy carrying a saddle and an armful of riding tackle from one end of the yard to the other.


    "Yes, that''s me. You can sign up over there." He pointed out a noticeboard behind them and carried on walking.


    Anika made her way to the noticeboard when she heard the trainer shout.


    "Sorry lady, don''t take this the wrong way, but you need more experience before you learn to ride. We can teach you after level 20, so come back then and sign yourself up for the lessons." With that, he kept walking and didn''t pay her any further attention.


    Anika felt as if her heart had sunk into her stomach. This just meant further delays. What was the point in having a level restriction for riding around? Didn''t the game developers want you to explore the game and everything it offered? She kicked the dirt in front of her and walked back towards the main gates of the city. It would be too early to check if her request for a map of Gliphos had been filled, but she could at least get back to the Explorer''s quarters and ask around.


    As she was walking back through the main gates, it occurred to her she might speed up her travel time by using her talent points. Every time she had gained a level, she had been too busy either fighting or preparing for the next fight, that she had forgotten to have a look at the options available to her.


    She opened the talent section and studied it for a while. She had already put two points into improved speed and was hoping to see if there were additional possibilities. At the moment her main dilemma was whether to spend time and energy in levelling up so she could get her riding skill, or whether it would be faster to just set off on foot.


    Only the first tier of her talent tree was available. As she placed her third point into Improved Speed, she noticed that the second-tier of the talent tree opened some new options up to her. To her dismay, there was no way for how to increase her speed any further. The main options available to her looked like they followed the three distinct Hunter specialisations. There were places to attribute points for Accuracy and some different shots. The Magical shot was one of them, and she didn''t hesitate to put her point into that one, remembering how useless she had been in the Nightmare Caverns without her Magical shot. To her surprise, the magical shot she had placed the point into a moment ago, did not appear in her skill section. When she focused on the ability on the talent tree, there was a small helpful note telling her she would have to find a Hunter trainer to unlock any new abilities from the 2nd tier.


    She had three points left to spend. One option was to learn how to set a poison trap. It would give her the information required to load a regular trap with various toxins, and there were some additional bonuses relating to Trapping, Stealth and Camouflage.


    Looking at the branch in her talent tree of the Beastmaster specialisation, she saw a few options that looked tempting. She could spend additional points that would improve the health and damage output of her companions, and a single point that would allow her to tame a beast even if it had been hurt by her.


    Improved Taming: 0/1


    Causing damage to a creature will no longer prevent it from being tamed.


    She felt like she needed a crash course in this stuff, so she decided to find the League of Hunters to train her new shooting ability and to get advice on her talent selections.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    The League of Hunters had their main cabin close to the outer walls of the city. On display, there were many types of hunting weapons and trapping gear, and some stalls selling different weapons and equipment that all looked useful for people needing to survive in the wild.


    There were also some stuffed animals hanging on the walls as she went inside the main cabin. She found the man who wassupposed to be the main Hunter trainer in Windfall city, his name was Beastmaster Fitch, and he was standing near an open fireplace, polishing a large hunting rifle with one foot on a sofa. This was his domain, and he was busy bragging and re-enacting a story of a savage encounter when she walked up to him and his audience.


    "Excuse me, Fitch?"


    She had waited a few moments before speaking, but since he didn''t pay her any attention, she spoke up.


    "That''s me."


    He stopped talking to the other hunters and sized her up after responding to her.


    "A novice hunter I can see. Here for some training lass?" He raised his eyebrows, turned to the others and smiled like someone who loves being the centre of attention, wanting the others to be part of the conversation.


    "Yes, I am. Can you help me unlock the second-tier of my talent tree, please?


    "I sure can. A Beastmaster I can see. What an excellent path for a young hunter like yourself to take. They call me Beastmaster Fitch. I have been taming and working with exotic beasts from here to the Frozen Isles for longer than I can remember. You''ve come to the right place."


    He moved away from the crowd he had been talking to, possibly because they had stopped paying attention to him and were engaged in a conversation of their own.


    He then walked her over to a wall covered in hunting trophies. There were stuffed animal heads of every conceivable type of beast. Some were easy to recognise, others were alien to Anika. He admired them for a while before continuing.


    "This path you have chosen is not just about taming beasts. Despite this, I''ve killed a few dozen of these myself. Sometimes they won''t let you take them home, so it''s a bullet or a knife to the throat." He smiled at her looking very content with himself.


    "So, about my training?" Anika continued. "When my second tier is unlocked, are there any options for me to run faster? I''ve spent three talent points in improved speed, but am wondering if there are any more options."


    "Going somewhere fast are you?"


    She nodded and was about to speak when he interrupted her.


    "I think speed is overrated. In most situations, you should take your time. Being in the right place at the right time is much more valuable than getting somewhere fast, wouldn''t you agree?"


    Another smug grin from the Master.


    "Well since you ask, I have to get somewhere fast. I need to get to Belhaven as soon as possible, and they can''t teach me riding yet, so I think I will go there by foot."


    Fitch looked away for a couple of moments, considering something.


    "Here''s what we''ll do. First, to unlock the next level of your training, I will need you to go outside the city walls and tame yourself three different beasts. Show me you can tame a Raven, a Spider and the fierce Wolf. Show me that, and you''ll be worthy of the next rank."


    New Quest: Tame three beasts for Fitch


    Raven 0/1


    Spider 0/1


    Wolf 0/1


    Accept Yes/No


    "On top of that, and to help you get to Belhaven as fast as possible, I have a little challenge for you. If you can tame a rare version of each of the three creatures, I''ll unlock a unique ability for you. How about that?"


    "What unique ability are you thinking about?"


    "Well, there is a skill we teach hunters who have excelled on the path of the Beastmaster. This would only be accessible to you after many years of dedication. But, if you can tame the rare creatures as I explained, you will have shown promise, and I will help you. The ability I''m thinking about allows you to ride your own companions. There are a few exceptions of course. The beast you intend to ride would need to have the strength to carry your weight, and I wouldn''t try riding a creature who isn''t your most loyal companion. Things can only go wrong, I''ve tried that myself."


    This might be what she needed, Anika thought. As long as this quest would not take longer than getting up to level 20, or the two weeks, she would have to travel by foot.


    "I''ll do it. Can you tell me where to find the creatures?" She was already picturing herself on the back of Beth, riding as fast as the strong legs of her bear could take them, on their way to Belhaven.


    "Just check your map, there should be indications on where you might go. I can''t promise you''ll find any rare creatures though, that is up to chance and your attention to detail. What I can tell you, is that the unique animals are found far away from the beaten path. They are rare because nobody has spotted or killed them yet, so you can expect quite a challenge. I wish you well."

 Chapter 31

    After picking Beth up at the stables, they made their way to the first area indicated on her map. There was overlap between the areas marked for the Ravens and the Spiders, so Anika headed straight for the intersection, which appeared to be a woodland with very few paths leading into it. She wondered how she would spot a rare creature, how would they differ from the regular ones?


    She made it into a dense part of the forest, an area where it was hard to walk upright because there was a chaos of fallen trees, dense undergrowth and no clear path to follow. She was pleased to notice that the few spiders they came across would not be a problem. Most of them were between level 4-7, and they seemed to skittle away whenever she and Beth came close. The spiders were not anything like the house spiders back in London. These were the size of footballs. On top of that, the webs they spun were also nothing like the cobwebs back at home. There were times when she didn''t spot a web in her path, she would get tangled up, and it took several minutes to cut herself free. The web was as thick as her little finger, and it was tough to cut through as well as being very sticky. If she hadn''t been alert and ready with a knife, she could see how these little creatures could easily catch much larger prey in their wide nets.


    The spiderwebs were becoming more frequent, so she was heading into an area where there were either more spiders than before, or there had just not been any beasts passing through this part of the forest in a while. One time, Anika and Beth got quite caught up in a combination of low hanging webs and some steep terrain. As they struggled to get free, she noticed that several spiders had appeared around them, looking for an opportunity to feed. There was to be no confrontation though. Anika worked hard at freeing herself and Beth, but it got her thinking how on earth she was supposed to tame one of these things.


    Anika had chosen the most complicated and dense parts of the forest to walk through. She wanted to follow Fitch''s advice and was looking for some clue that would tell her she was on the right track. When she spotted an opening to a cave, about the size of a tall person, she guessed that this would be as good a place as any for a rare creature. The area looked like it had been untouched for many weeks, so there was also a good chance that whoever had spun the web that covered the entrance, must''ve given up and gone elsewhere.


    Anika and Beth got up close to the entrance of the cave, and something told her she had hit the jackpot. Perhaps it was the setup. She knew the game designers would have paid extra attention when creating these rare creatures, and this place looked like it fit the setting for a rare creature. Beth was getting uncomfortable. She looked like she didn''t want to be there and was looking around for signs of danger.


    When Anika thought about how to tackle the situation, she remembered her first try at taming those pheasants in the forest near Ralph''s cabin. Maybe the same trick would work here? She needed bait to lure whatever was lurking in there out into the open. It didn''t take long for Beth to realise what she was thinking, and she was not happy about it. Anika thought it through and became sure that the only way forward was to use Beth as bait. The plan was to have Beth get caught in the web in the entrance of the cave and then use the element of surprise when the spider came out to catch its prey to tame it.


    Anika climbed to the top of the mouth of the cave, she could hardly see the web from there, although it was possible for her to get on her chest and lower head down so she could see into the cave a short distance. Beth had been waiting outside the cave when Anika gave her the command to step into the web. She did so, with some hesitation, and within a few minutes, she had herself tangled into what was a solid and thick web. Almost defiantly, she sat down and waited.


    When nothing happened for a good while, Anika commanded Beth to make some commotion. Perhaps the struggle of something in the net would alert the spider in the cave it had gotten lucky. But it was still not clear if there was anything inside the cave. It would be disappointing if that weren''t the case, this seemed like the perfect spot for a rare creature to hide away.


    Beth continued to struggle against the web, getting more and more caught up in it until they both heard a spine-chilling sound. From deep within the cave, they could hear hissing, a slow and wet hissing sound. Beth stopped struggling and watched in nervous anticipation for any sign of the spider. The hissing sound got louder, but Anika couldn''t see anything from her position above the mouth of the cave.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Beth whimpered in panic, the spider must have been getting close. Anika had to do something, this could all go wrong. Her plan to just wait above the mouth of the cave did not seem so bright all of a sudden. The spider was on the inside of the cave, and there was no way she could get to it from where she was. With Beth getting more and more anxious, doing everything she could to get free of the web, Anika climbed down to get closer to her. Even if she couldn''t get to the spider from there, at least she could free Beth, and they could abort the mission and find another target.


    When Anika got to the mouth of the cave and was close enough to Beth to cut her free, she saw the spider. It was a hideous-looking thing, and she guessed it would reach up to her knees if she stood close by it. It was certainly larger than the ones they had come across so far, and after focusing on it for a few moments, she realised from the info tag that this was a rare creature. It was level 10, and its tag had an orange outline to it, as opposed to the white outline on the normal creatures she had come across. This was the rare creature they had been looking for.


    As Anika cut some of the webs from where Beth was standing, she noticed that the spider had climbed to the side of the wall, and it was spitting new strands of webbing at Beth. It kept moving around the walls of the cave to get different angles and for each strand that Anika could cut free; it had tangled Beth in another one. Anika realised she was fighting a losing battle and had to do something.


    She pulled out her bow and took aim squarely at the spiders head. When it realised what she was doing it stopped focusing on covering Beth in more webbing and got into a defensive position, hissing louder than before and squaring up to Anika.


    Anika hesitated. She was about to kill what was most likely the only creature that would allow her to learn the unique ability if she tamed it. Was there another way? Might it even be better to let the spider have its catch? Sacrifice Beth to get her prize?


    Before Anika could analyse the situation further, the spider she was facing had shot two strands at her feet. They wrapped themselves around her ankles and with a sharp tug Anika lost her balance. She was now being dragged, with what in hindsight was an extreme strength, towards the spider. She got her knife out, intending to cut herself free, but then a thought occurred to her. What if she used herself as bait this time?


    It felt risky, and everything could go horribly wrong from this point on, but she let herself be dragged into the cave without much struggle. Beth reacted badly to this, she was immobilised by the spider''s web, but she fought to get free now she could see her master being caught up in it as well.


    Anika was getting dangerously close now. She could see the sharp teeth glistening in the light from outside the cave. What was most likely venom, was dripping from its mouth, and the hissing sound was so characteristic because of all the liquid that was spilling out its mouth. At the last possible moment, Anika got out the taming collar she had received from Ralph and was getting ready to make a move.


    It was as if the spider had realised it was being tricked. It stopped pulling Anika in and looked at the taming collar in her hand. She wasn''t close enough, or in the right position to reach the spider, so she did what seemed to be the only option left available. She launched the collar at the spider, only to see it skittle away sideways hissing furiously. This was not going at all according to plan. The spider was too smart and too agile for her to get a catch by using the collar as a lasso.


    Luckily her lasso didn''t get trapped in any of the webs, so she pulled it back and considered trying again. Then, almost without thinking she grabbed the webbing attached to her feet and gave them a yank as hard as possible. It resisted for a split second, but like a rubber band, the force of her pull resulted in the spider flying through the air and landing straight at her feet. In an instant she had placed the collar on the front of its head, its hissing subsided, and Anika could take a deep breath knowing she had successfully tamed her rare spider.


    The spider waited while she freed Beth from the web, and Anika was so disgusted by it she didn''t even pay attention to it until they were free and had a chance to sit down and take stock of their situation.


    Beth was not impressed with the new addition to their group. She kept a distance and made it clear to Anika that this new thing would not be a friend of hers. Anika felt the same, how could you build a relationship with a thing so ugly and venomous?


    "Well, I suppose we better give your name. Can''t have you running off before we get back to the city. What do you think Beth?"


    Beth looked indignant as if she didn''t even want to consider that this thing should have a name like she did.


    Anika opened the tab next to her character screen showing the pets in her under her command.


    "I think we''ll call you Hissy."

 Chapter 32

    With Beth and Hissy following, quite some distance apart from each other, Anika led them to a thinner part of the forest. According to her map, they were right in the middle of where the ravens could be found. They walked along a wide track in the woods, looking up to see if there was any sign of the rare bird they were looking for. After a short distance along the road, they spotted a flock of ravens chopping away at a carcass in the middle of a clearing. Anika recalled that birds like crows and ravens were carrion birds, which meant that they would often eat the leftovers from roadkill and bins around the city back home.


    As they got closer, the birds scattered, which led Anika to think this would be a tough challenge. How was she supposed to get close to one of these and get a collar around one of their necks? She figured that finding a place where the ravens nested might give her an opportunity to get close to one of them. After exploring the area for a while, she spotted several nests high in the trees, the only problem was that the trees were too narrow to climb, they didn''t have the sturdy branches she would need to make her way up there.


    Anika had almost given up hope and realised she would need advice on how to catch these things. It was at this point she stumbled on some old ruins lying way off the track they have been following. Out of curiosity, she went to have a look at them. From a short distance, she could see ravens perched at the top of a large tower, the only part of the old ruins that was still intact. She walked around the ruins twice, but there was no way she would be able to climb to the top. The inside of the tower had what looked to be a winding staircase, but over time it had crumbled, and there was no way for her to climb up on the inside of it. She decided to leave the place and continue looking elsewhere.


    This was when Hissy drew attention to herself. It was as if she didn''t want to leave the ruins, but it was hard for Anika to understand what was going on. Her spider companion just seemed to loiter around the base of the ruins, even when Anika had given a stern command for her to follow. Just like the feeling she had had outside of the spider cave, Anika thought to herself if it would make sense to place a rare version of the raven in a place like this. It was inaccessible, so combined with Hissy''s strange behaviour, Anika thought there was a high chance she was in the right place.


    If there were a rare bird at the top of the tower, the only way forward would be for them to set a trap and lure the bird down from its nest. When Anika decided that they should go looking for a kill to use as bait, Hissy had understood what she was planning. The spider was no longer reluctant to follow her and even skittered ahead as if it was happy with the scheme.


    Anika spotted a wild deer some way off in the distance and pulled out her bow. She took it down with a clean shot before sending Beth in to collect it. Although Anika was pleased that Beth could fetch like a good dog, she was dismayed that the pelt had been messed up. It was a beautiful bit of fur, so she took the time to get a nice piece of skin before they returned to the ruins to place the trap.


    Hissy was making a point of where to position the carcass of the deer. She had climbed to a short wall and was already spinning a web which covered a small space underneath, enough room for the corpse to be put inside. The web she had spun was beautiful. It had unusual symmetry and seem to be almost invisible, despite the thickness of the strands. When Anika looked around, she realised that she couldn''t have picked a better spot herself and she thought to herself that this little creature knew a thing or two about setting up an effective trap.


    With the carcass placed under the web, the three of them moved out of the way and took cover behind a larger wall belonging to the ruins. There was no guarantee that this would work. They didn''t even know if there was any rare bird close by.


    After waiting a short while, the smell from the dead animal had been carried high enough into the wind. Two ravens, none of them rare creatures, flew down and sat on the wall right above the trap. They seemed to look around for a while before deciding to start their meal.


    Both of them got caught and tangled in Hissy''s web. They flapped and squawked for a while before getting themselves stuck, then they seemed to give up and just hung there, dangling in the wind.


    Hissy was eager to approach the trap and finish her catch, but Anika gave her a firm command to stay put. There was nothing rare about the two birds they had captured, so the best thing to do was to continue waiting and hope for the best.


    After waiting for a couple of moments, their attention was drawn to the sky above them. With a loud squawk, another raven descended and perched itself on the wall right above their trap. It only took a few moments for Anika to focus on it and to realise that this was the rare bird they were after. It sat on the wall, calm as a cucumber, looking at the carcass underneath the web and its friends who were still tangled up in Hissy''s web. The way it cocked its head and moved around, suggested a certain level of intelligence. The rare bird was taking in the facts of the situation and deciding on a course of action.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    The raven which was much larger than the two they had already caught, jumped onto the ground while looking around from side to side, checking for danger. Anika and her companions stayed put, hoping that they wouldn''t get spotted and that the bird would get itself tangled in the web. This was not to be. By now the raven was well aware of the trap. It didn''t make any attempt at freeing the other birds. Instead, it walked to the side of the trap and found that it could reach underneath the webbing with its beak and then tugged at the carcass, dragging it out from underneath the trap.


    A few seconds more like this and the raven could pull the carcass clear of the trap and either take off with it in its claws or at least grab a sizeable chunk and make a getaway. Anika knew she had to do something, but from where they were, there was no chance of getting to the raven without startling it. Hissy looked at her and made that awful sound again. Her little teeth were drooling with venom, she was up for a fight with this raven. To Anika, there just didn''t seem to be a solution. Out of the three of them, it was most likely that Hissy could get close without being noticed, so she commanded the spider to get close and to see what it could do. She tried adding that under no circumstances must the raven get bitten, but she had no idea if the spider would heed her request.


    Almost as soon as Anika had decided and given the command, Hissy was off. A slow and cautious skittle at first, then faster until it was about ten feet away from the raven and their trap. The raven had now spotted Hissy and had let go of the carcass. When it looked as if the raven was getting ready to flee, Anika commanded Hissy to do something, anything to stop the raven from getting away.


    Hissy, fast as lightning, shot towards the raven and shot out to strands of webbing that stuck straight to the wall above the raven. She then moved sideways two steps and repeated the process. Most likely in a panic, the raven flapped its wings and lifted itself in the air, straight into the web hissy was building. One wing got caught, but it was a big raven, and it didn''t look like a couple of strands would prevent it from moving. Hissy continued the manoeuvre, each time shooting two strands above the raven, connecting with the wall and then moving along for a different angle.


    To Anika, everything happened in slow motion. She and Beth were doing all they could do, which was to stand still where they were and watch the action. The entire thing took less than fifteen seconds, and by the time it was over, the raven had become so entangled in Hissy''s web, that it eventually gave up and dangled in the wind like the other two. When the raven had been overcome, Anika heard Hissy''s disgusting sound again and watched as she moved in for the kill, somewhat menacingly, at a slow pace. This could all go horribly wrong Anika thought to herself, if Hissy bites the raven, this would all have been for nothing.


    "Don''t touch the bird," Anika shouted as she ran towards them.


    Hissy didn''t listen at first, but when Anika got close, she seemed to catch on and moved to the side. Beth had now followed as well and was watching the action from a short distance.


    Anika had to use a knife to get the rare bird free before she could get the collar around it. When she was done, and she felt that slight connection with her new companion, she told Hissy she could eat the two smaller birds. After that, Anika focused all her attention on her new raven.


    She couldn''t tell if it was male or female, but as she released its bonds and felt its feathers, she was struck by its beauty. The feathers were so black they seemed to swallow all light around them. They felt smooth and soft, silky even, and still stronger than anything she had felt as soft as that. The most astonishing thing about the bird was its eyes. Its large black eyes stared into hers, and she got a clear message. This was an intelligent bird, it was upset with her because it felt she had used a cheap trick, but it accepted its fate and communicated to her it would serve her, provided it could always fly freely. All of this happened in a second or two, but she felt an instant bond and connection with the animal. It felt as if she had been given a clear warning that if she were to put this bird in a cage, it would rather kill itself than continue living. At that moment she made a deal. If the raven would serve its purpose and help her with her quest, she would treat it with respect and let it have as much freedom as possible.


    When Anika checked the stats of her new companion, she noticed that she now had a couple of interesting commands available. Apart from the usual directions or movement commands such as follow and attack, it looked like she could send the raven to scout. There was also a section which had a resemblance to her own talent tree and specialisations. There were no points available to spend, but at some point, she would be able to have the raven specialise in various attacks, and something more utility focused. One thing which caught her attention was an ability called A Flock of Crows. When activated, this ability would summon additional crows who would attack the desired target for up to one minute, before they would disperse. That was something that could come in handy. As for current abilities, the Scout ability could be upgraded so that Anika could see through the raven''s eyes.


    Anika named her new companion Loki. She was sure she had read something about Norse mythology and some ravens, but she couldn''t put a finger on it. The only name that came to mind was Loki which as far as she remembered was the god of mischief. She wanted to name the bird sooner rather than later, and Loki had a nice ring to it.


    She checked the map and saw they had quite a walk ahead of them, to get to the area marked for their final target. The wolves could be found north of windfall city, in a sector marked with a few trees and some rocky terrain. She checked her fatigue levels and decided to log out and proceed in the morning. Before logging out, she made a fire and sat in the ruins with her new companions after making sure they all had something to eat from the surrounding forest. One wild boar was enough to serve all of them.

 Chapter 33

    It was early the next morning, Anika was feeling excited to be getting somewhere with her quest. Taming a wolf was likely to prove the biggest challenge of the three, but she was delighted with the progress she had made so far and quite enjoyed her little pack as it was. Beth, as always, walked by her side, close enough for her to reach out and stroke her fur. She needed that attention and reassurance regularly, and would often bump her side against Anika to get a little stroke or sign of affection throughout the day. Hissy was content to follow from the back, most likely so that she was out of the way and didn''t get stepped on. Anika couldn''t be sure, but there had been one or two incidences where Beth had stepped on Hissy, and it had become clear that the two of them were not getting along well. Loki would sometimes land on a rock or tree nearby to make her presence known, but the rest of the time Anika let her fly overhead and as far away as she wanted. She wasn''t worried about Loki; they seemed to have a strong mental connection, and she always had a great sense of where they were in relation to each other.


    The first wolf they spotted was level 10, but it did not prove to be a problem for them. It was very aggressive and went in for the attack as soon as they had spotted it. Beth got into a defensive position, which allowed Anika to step back and do the majority of the damage with her bow and arrows. They only needed a short moment to recuperate before continuing, but Anika was cautious and nervous about running into a larger pack of wolves which might prove to be a problem for them.


    She sent Loki ahead on a scouting mission, and when the bird returned, it had spotted the rare wolf they were after. It would have been hard for Anika to explain how she knew, but Loki had singled out a pack leader not too far ahead and had also warned that there were four other wolves and a couple of wolf cubs in the pack. Their location was marked on her map, with separate icons showing what Loki had spotted.


    When they got close, Loki squawked to warn them they would soon be too near. From what she could tell, Anika thought there would be some kind of wolf camp up ahead. At that moment, all she could see were a couple of very short rocky cliffs sticking out of the ground, in what was otherwise barren landscape. If they would face down a pack of wolves, they needed an excellent plan. Picking them off one by one and leaving the rare wolf for last would have been the best scenario, but Anika couldn''t think of any way of separating them. She knew that they were pack animals and that she would be invading their territory. They would stick together like glue, so she needed to come up with something that didn''t involve walking straight up there and attacking.


    Her first idea was for Hissy to spend time making a web large enough to trap a single wolf. Although it seemed like an awkward plan to execute, she wondered if it was possible to launch an attack and take down the four wolves as quickly as possible. Then, without hurting the rare wolf, they could run it towards Hissy''s web, catch it and get the taming collar around it. Without consulting her companions she ran through the scenario in her head, there were no better ideas presenting themselves, so she gave Hissy the command, and they all watched as the spider built a web. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Hissy had chosen what seemed like a fantastic spot once again. All they would have to do is scale two rocks and get behind the web, Beth would have to understand where to go and leave the wolf to take the most accessible route to get to her, that would lead it straight into the barrier of webbing which Hissy had constructed.


    It was as if everyone knew the plan without Anika having to explain things. Despite this, Hissy almost excitedly took them through the project as a tactical advisor. She even showed them a spot where they could jump across the barriers of the web, a bit like an assault course, to get behind it and be ready for the wolf to get trapped.


    As they followed the rocky crags, making their way uphill to where the wolf pack would be, Anika gave each of them their final instructions. They must take down the wolves as fast as possible, and nobody was to hurt the pack leader. As soon as the last wolf in the pack had been killed, Beth was to run as fast as she could and scale the rocks, leading the wolf straight into the trap they had prepared. Anika could see it all working out well in her mind, the only risky part would be killing the wolves fast enough.


    The wolf pack must have caught their scent before they got close. Two of them were standing guard as they rounded a large rock. They were level 12, so they would already prove to be tough to kill. Beth did what she did best, she got on her hind legs, roared and went in for the attack. Anika split her attention between taking down the wolves and watching to see if anyone was coming from up the hill. As the fight was going on, she spotted the pack leader and two other wolves waiting from further up the mountain. This was the right place to be, the pack leader had an orange icon around its level tag showing that it was the rare creature she was after.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Before Beth and her companions had killed the first two wolves, the other three came pounding down the hill at a ferocious speed. Then all hell broke loose. Beth fought bravely, but they were outnumbered, even with Hissy''s effort, who was not adept at fighting in a brawl such as this. When there was only the pack leader, and another wolf left, Beth was severely injured. She had lost most of the ability to fight and was fending off the vicious bites from the wolves. Suddenly Anika''s plan had gone to shit. Even if they managed to finish off the last wolf, it looked like Beth could not make it back to their trap. If they carried on as they were, it was very likely that Beth would not even survive the fight. Although Anika was doing most of the damage now, with Beth hardly putting up much of a fight, it was still not enough.


    At this point, Anika didn''t care about the plan any longer. She wanted to get the wolves off her favourite companion, watching her bear struggle was too much to handle. With no real thought, Anika raced up to the wolves den and spotted a couple of wolf cubs who had been watching from above and were apparently very scared. She wanted to get hold of one of them and hoped that taking it as hostage was going to give her the distraction she needed so that Beth could get away from the fight.


    The wolf cubs were fast, and they scattered when she approached. It was only when Loki swooped in to help that Anika got the luck she needed. She was chasing one of the cubs who had decided to run down the hill towards the fighting, but Loki cut it off and forced it to change direction. This gave Anika the distance she needed to get close, she could dive onto it and grab it around the chest, holding its snapping jaws in place. With the struggling wolf cub in her arms, she hurried down to the fighting and saw that Beth was on her last legs, with only a few health points remaining before she would die.


    "Hey! Look here!" The two wolves stopped biting Beth and saw what Anika had in her arms.


    Her plan had worked, but what would happen next was less obvious. The pack leader, who had not been hurt yet, lowered its head and bared its teeth. Then it approached slowly, letting out a deep and low growl. To Anika''s surprise, Beth took the opportunity of the distraction to land an almighty blow from behind on the wolf approaching behind the pack leader. It appeared to be enough to finish it off, but it was also the last of her effort. She then flopped sideways and lay on her side gasping for air.


    With the pack leader approaching, Anika considered making a run for the trap they had prepared. Something didn''t feel right about this plan though. She was sure that turning her back on this creature would result in her getting her skull and spine split open, or her head bitten off. It was the meanest looking wolf she had ever seen, and right now she was carrying something that was precious to it. If she were going to live through this, she would have to be in control. Turning around and running was giving up any chance of coming out of this alive.


    Anika got to her knees and pinned the wolf cub under one leg, then she got out her knife and pressed it against the neck of the cub so that the pack leader could see what her intention was. She didn''t feel confident at all that this would work, nothing was stopping the wolf from just diving in and taking its chance with the lady and her knife. Hissy and Beth were in the background licking their wounds and were likely not going to be any help in this situation. The same went for Loki who had landed on the ground close to them but would not be any help.


    As the pack leader got close, tensing its muscles and looking as if it was getting ready to pounce. Anika changed her posture. She kept her foot on the wolf cub, pinning it down, but she put her hands in the air and dropped the knife she was holding. It was a sign of surrender, but she had no idea how the wolf saw this playing out. It kept moving closer with its eyes fixed on her. She could feel the cub breathing rapidly underneath her boot and wondered if she had played all of this wrong. There was nothing stopping the wolf from just attacking her, but it was hesitating, it was now looking at the wolf cub periodically while still locking eyes with Anika.


    With a hand behind her back, Anika got out the taming collar and was ready to throw it around the wolf''s neck as a last resort.


    In what seemed like a flash, Loki flew two feet into the air towards the wolf and squawked at it. This distraction gave Anika just enough time to let go of her hostage, move a couple of steps forwards and dive at the wolf with her taming collar in hand.

 Chapter 34

    Taming the rare wolf had succeeded. If it wasn''t for Loki''s timely distraction, Anika felt sure that the wolf would have attacked her, and that she would have been dead. She had now completed her quest to tame three rare creatures. Not only would the next tier of her talents be unlocked by Fitch, but he would also teach her the skill that would enable her to ride one of her companions.


    Despite the success and the prospect of being able to make her way to Belhaven, Anika saw no reason to celebrate. When she had gone back to check on Hissy and Beth, she had found them both in a terrible state. Hissy could be but brought back to full health with some cooked meat from Anika''s bag, but she hadn''t got there in time to save Beth. Beth led out her last sigh when Anika approached with her new wolf as a companion. The look in her eyes told Anika that she had given up and that she was sorry. There was nothing Anika could do, there was no way of forcing the food into her mouth. Beth just lay there, still warm and sweaty from the fight. She hugged her companion and cried.


    After a few moments, Anika pulled herself together. This was only a game, but she had become so attached to Beth ever since they first bonded in the woods outside Ralph''s cabin. There was also something special about Beth, a genuine loyalty and compassion she had never felt from another animal, whether in the game or in real life.


    With her three companions in tow, she made her way back to Windfall city. Although it was difficult, she kept reminding herself that this was just a game and that Beth''s sacrifice had meant that she was now well on her way to finding her son. That was all that mattered, and she now had three rare beasts under her command, which must be a positive outcome.


    When Anika approached the gates to Windfall city, she noticed a couple of odd stares and glances from other players who passed her by. A couple even stopped to stare for a good while which made her feel uncomfortable. Her best guess was that nobody had seen a hunter with three rare beasts in a while, but she couldn''t think why it was such a big deal. Surely there were hunters of a much higher level than her who had far more fierce and exotic beasts following them.


    As she was making her way to the League of Hunters, the attention she was getting was making her feel very uncomfortable. A couple of players had even followed her, without trying to disguise that they were on her tail. She didn''t want a confrontation with anyone, so she picked up the pace and headed for Fitch as fast as she could.


    "There you are, young Hunter. I can see you''ve done well. Let me have a look at these creatures." Fitch had met her on the steps of the main hunter''s lodge, and he was now examining Hissy, Loki and her un-named wolf.


    "This one needs a name, don''t you think?"


    She supposed it did, but she hadn''t given it much thought on the walk here. Her mind had been occupied with pushing the feelings of grief and sadness out of her mind and trying to focus on her next objective.


    "If you have time, I can tell your story of a great wolf from ancient times. A formidable beast they called Fenrir. I have to say, wolves are one of my favourite animals in the wild. They can be very loyal, the fiercest of opponents and they have almost as much endurance and protection as that bear of yours. What happened to her? Didn''t she make it?


    "I don''t want to talk about it. But I suppose you''re right, this one needs a name.


    She checked its underbelly and didn''t see any signs of male genitals, so she assumed it must be female. Then she thought about the name Fenrir. The name didn''t quite feel right, but after a few moments, she settled on a variation of it and named her new companion Fenris.


    "Fenris! A very nice name for a companion I hope will serve you well in the years ahead. Now, you have proven your worth as a Beastmaster in training, and I will be happy to unlock your next talents and the bonus I promised. Don''t take this lightly, I send many young hunters off on the same quest as you. Very few of them return with even one rare creature. Let alone, much fewer return with over one beast at a time. You have shown a lot of skill, but I feel you don''t quite understand the full extent of it."


    Beastmaster Tier 2 UnlockedStolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    When Anika received the system message that her second level of talents had been unlocked, she checked what the options were. It caused her a lot of sadness to realise that one of the talent options would give her the ability to resurrect a companion that had died in battle provided she was not engaged in combat. If only she had had this before setting off on her quest, Beth would still be with them. Going back and changing what had happened would not be possible, she had seen Beth''s corpse disappear when they left her near the wolf den. Beth was no longer available in her companion screen.


    Fitch confirmed that she wanted to unlock the talent that would allow her to ride her companions. He offered to talk through the other options, but when asked if there was anything that could get her from Windfall city to Belhaven any quicker, he agreed that this talent was the best choice for her. He then said goodbye and wished her luck on her journey. She then walked off towards the Explorers Guild, she wanted to see if there was any news of the request she had put up about Gliphos.


    As she left the courtyard of the League of Explorers, she was met by a group of players who were waiting for her. One of them, some kind of mage, stepped in front of the others, pointed a finger at her and told the others;


    "Here she is. See, I wasn''t lying. She''s got three beasts with her!"


    Anika stopped. Not that they were aggressive, but none of them had greeted her or introduced themselves. What was the big deal about having three companions?


    At that moment a tall hunter stepped out from the group and introduced himself. He had long limbs and pointed ears, so he stuck out from the rest, although she had seen a few players like him around before.


    "Hi, my name is Fricke. You are a Beastmaster, right?


    Anika nodded. Wasn''t that obvious?


    "How are you controlling all of those companions at the same time?"


    "What do you mean controlling?" Anika was confused now, was that what the big deal was?


    "I''m not controlling them, they follow me around, and I have learnt to tell them what to do when I need them to fight or follow me."


    "Are you serious? I''ve never seen that before."


    He summoned a black wolf which appeared by his side and sat on its hind legs while he stroked its mane.


    "Did you get a special talent or something that would allow you to summon more than one at a time?"


    Anika shook her head, she was still confused and didn''t see why this was such a big deal.


    Fricke explained that most hunters could only control one of their companions at a time. As soon as they summoned the second companion, the first one would lose its connection with the owner and disappear until called on again. He had read about hunters able to control two at a time, but they experienced a huge loss in fatigue. It was to the point where it wasn''t worth it, and the creatures would rarely obey any of the commands they were given.


    "I don''t know what to tell you, I haven''t noticed any difference. I started playing a couple of days ago, my first companion was a bear, and it was only yesterday I tamed my second beast."


    Fricke walked around her, inspecting her companions and his friends did the same.


    "This is insane. Not only are you able to master more than one companion at a time, but you''ve also tamed three rare beasts." He shook his head and smiled at her.


    "And you say you''ve only been playing for a couple of days? People spend weeks tracking down the rare ones for Fitch''s quest. Most people give up, it''s impossible to find those things, and yet somehow you''ve managed it."


    He put both hands in the air in mock surrender. This made her blush as the facts he had told her sank in.


    "Thank you for the compliments, I didn''t realise it was such a big deal. Maybe I just got lucky." Although she felt proud that she had done something that many others could not do, she was also feeling very uncomfortable standing in front of this group of players.


    "It''s been nice meeting you, but I have to go somewhere. Take care of yourselves."


    None of them said a word, Fricke waved at her, mouth still open, and watched as she wandered off with her companions in tow.


    As she made her way to the Explorers Guild, she was getting more stares from a couple of players. At first, she thought she could just ignore it, but after generating more attention, she was worried that somebody might stop her again and she would have to have the same conversation. The best option was to dismiss her companions for the time being and to keep her newfound talent a secret for now.


    Even without the companions at her side, Anika felt a warm feeling in her stomach. It was nice to know she was somehow special, and she knew she could call on her companions at a moment''s notice when she needed their help with something. Choosing a hunter in the first place and specialising in Beastmastery was a wise choice, now she thought about it. She had a long journey ahead of her and having the company of her animals made her feel confident she would get there.

 Chapter 35

    Anika returned to the Explorers Guild and found the noticeboard where she had placed her request for a map of Gliphos. It was hard for her at first to see the scrap of paper because it was covered in hundreds of additional requests. She finally managed to locate it and saw with delight that a response had been scribbled on it:


    Full map of Gliphos available. 50 silver.


    Find me at the Explorer''s Tavern, Crane.


    Although she was a couple of silver coins short of being able to buy the map, Anika was delighted that she could get a complete view of the continent where her son was located. She went to the Explorers Tavern and asked around for Crane. One of the players at the tavern pointed him out.


    Crane was a short, dark-haired goblin of some sort. His skin was almost green but browner, and it kind of resembled the type of camouflage clothing army people wore. His clothes were dirty, and he looked like someone who had been travelling quite far by the way his clothes were worn and the tired posture he had.


    Anika approached him intending to buy the map and prepare for her journey to Belhaven, but he looked like he was deep in discussions with two other players. They had a map in front of them, and he was explaining various locations and objectives that marked on the map. She drew attention to herself by coughing gently after watching them for a few moments; she felt it would be rude to continue standing there as if she was eavesdropping on the conversation.


    "Hi, I''m Anika. About the map of Gliphos?"


    Crane took a brief look at her and told her to sit down at the table. He then finished his conversation, which ended with a request for support from the other players. They didn''t look convinced by whatever he was trying to explain to them. He appeared desperate and even threw in the promise of financial rewards if they would just do what he had proposed. The other players told him they would think about it and excused themselves.


    "Yes Anika, I''ve got the map you''re looking for. Can you pay?" He looked exhausted and keen to wrap up the conversation.


    "I''m so glad to hear that, yes I have almost 50 silver. If you bear with me, I''m sure I can find a buyer for a couple of my leather skins to make up the difference. Can you wait for me while I sort that out?"


    "I could do, I''m here for another couple of days. But tell me this why do you need a map of Gliphos? Do you realise it is a massive PvP zone? At your level, you will get killed instantly, so I can''t see why you would want to go there at all."


    Crane ordered a beer from the barmaid and asked if she wanted anything. She politely refused but was happy that he would stay a little while longer, she would like to learn more about the place she was going to, and this was her chance.


    "I''m not too bothered about playing the game out there. I was told my son is on Gliphos, and I desperately need to speak with him, so I''m just going to make my way there and do my best to find him. Have you heard about the Crimson Alliance and the Pure Warheads?"


    Crane took a few moments to think about her question. The look he was giving her suggested that she had told him a lie. His brow scrunched up oddly, and his goblin face showed every sign of distrust.


    "You''re joking, right? Of course, I''ve of heard of the Crimson Alliance. And I know a few things about the Pure Warheads. Are you telling me that your son is fighting for them?"Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "Yes, I know he got sponsored by the Pure Warheads. That''s about it."


    "Well, I can tell you that you are headed in the right direction. Finding your son won''t be easy, but the Pure Warheads are a big deal on Gliphos."


    "Is there anything you can tell me about where I should look for him? I know he plays in the tournaments, so I was hoping to get there by using your map."


    "If I let you have it that is." His eyes squinted as if he was trying to work her out. "I''m here recruiting on behalf of the League of Ash. We are the main faction opposing the Crimson Alliance on Gliphos. You can see where I''m coming from right? Why should I help you?"


    Anika didn''t have an answer. Her heart sank as she looked away trying to work out if this was a major setback. Maybe she was better off just ending the conversation and making her way to Belhaven, then figuring things out from there.


    "Listen. I''m not a complete arse hole, and this is just a game, right? If finding your son is important, I''ve got no problem giving you this map to help you out. Just pay me 10 silver or something. It''s out of date, but it has some of the major battle zones and borders drawn on it."


    He rolled out the map and showed her the continent of Gliphos. It was clearly marked out where the League of Ash had its headquarters and outposts. There were also some notes on where the Crimson Alliance had their fortifications and garrisons, but these were less detailed.


    "I would be really grateful for that."


    "Just tell no one you got this from me okay. The guys I work for pissed off with me, I''m having trouble recruiting anyone to come out and fight for us. In most areas, we are losing ground, and it seems like the Crimson Alliance has a never-ending supply of resources and players willing to join them. I wish you the best of luck, but remember that you will die a lot out there and I doubt you will find a garrison willing to let you resurrect in their camp."


    "So where do you recommend I set my resurrection point?"


    "That''s the trouble with Gliphos. If you don''t have an alliance with one of the factions, you won''t get to resurrect there. The only place you will be able to resurrect will be Belhaven, so every time you get killed, you will have to go back there. There is a boat that leaves once a day, so it is a major setback if you are going to make your way around Gliphos. If you were at max level and had experience with PvP combat, then I would recommend that you join a garrison. Garrisons are basically outposts, fortifications that allow the major opposing factions to increase their borders, fight skirmishes and ultimately gain more ground from the opposition."


    He showed a couple of areas where the Crimson Alliance and the League of Ash had been clashing. "These garrisons here desperately need more players, we also need more resources. That''s why I am here, I''m trying to find players willing to join us, but everybody seems to want to fight for the crimson alliance."


    "What about tournaments? I heard that my son is fighting in some kind of tournament on a regular basis."


    "Okay. He must be one of the top players in the Pure Warheads then. Basically, the Everscape organisers put on PvP tournaments on a regular basis, most of them are on Gliphos or in similar PvP zones. There is a tournament hub right here," he pointed at an area in the middle of the map, "and if I''m not mistaken, the next tournament is scheduled for one week from now. If you somehow got there, you should be all right for a while. It turns into a neutral zone, so you''ll be safe from other players during the tournament. I still don''t see any way of you getting there though, you will have both of the main factions killing you on sight, just for fun."


    Crane might have been right, but Anika thought to herself that she would not let any of this deter her from her objective. Even if it took several attempts, she would get there and find her son regardless of the risk. The only alternative was to level up her character by running dungeons and completing quests, but that would take many months, so she didn''t even consider it an option. If there was a tournament going on in a week, she was determined to get there for that.


    Anika thanked Crane for letting her have the map at a discounted price and thanked him for all of his advice. He shrugged as if it was nothing and wished her best of luck, making a point that she would definitely need it.

 Chapter 36

    Anika figured that she had time before she needed to log out for the day, so she made a few preparations by planning her route and making sure she had food and drink for the journey to Belhaven. She also spent some time with Fenris. The two of them hardly knew each other, and she was planning to ride on Fenris'' back, all the way to Belhaven, so making sure that this would work seemed like a good idea.


    She went outside the city walls and summoned her wolf. Fenris was hungry, so they spent time hunting, and it became clear to Anika that this wolf was a force to be reckoned with. As soon as she was given the go-ahead to attack her prey, she went in at lightning speed and tore apart whatever she had caught. There was no chance for Anika to salvage any leather or fur from Fenris'' kills, but the most important thing was that she was well fed and ready for the journey in the morning.


    Sitting astride the Wolf was uncomfortable at first, and Fenris was not impressed with having Anika on her back. They took a walk without too much trouble, but as soon as Anika commanded her to run at a faster pace, she would fall off. She realised that all she had was the wolf''s mane to hold onto and that most other riding animals were equipped with a saddle. As there was still time, she went back to the city and see what she could do about finding a seat that would fit. She met with a leather worker who had some saddles for sale, and with a few adjustments, Anika could create a saddle with a snug fit and took it for a test ride before logging out.


    The journey to Belhaven went well. Fenris and Anika had to get used to each other for the first part of the trip, but the saddle she had fashioned the previous day held together well, and she only fell off the wolf twice, to begin with. One thing that slowed them down was Fenris''s hunting instinct. She kept wanting to chase rabbits and other beasts in the wild, but Anika found that once she had let her hunt a few times, her loyalty rating improved and she put up less of a fuss when Anika wanted her to move.


    It wasn''t until the end of the first day that Anika got a feeling for Fenris'' is true potential. Until that point, Fenris had not broken into anything faster than a trot. It happened when they crossed the path of a small militia of ogres. These things were three times as tall as the average person, ridiculously fat and flabby and they carried massive wooden mallets to thump their enemies with. It was Anika''s fault, Loki had warned her that there was trouble up ahead, but as she couldn''t see a way through it, she had stayed on the road so as not to lose any time. The ogres were a lot faster on their feet than should have been possible. They blocked the entire road, so when Anika and Fenris rode too close to them for comfort, they had given chase. This was when Fenris came into her own and showed what speed she was capable of. She bolted forwards allowing them to get clear of the ogres and kept up a good pace until they were out of sight. It had taken its toll on both of them, so they stopped early for the night, and she made sure that Fenris was well fed and rewarded for riding all day long.


    It was shortly after midday the following day that they reached Belhaven. By Anika''s reckoning, they had made it faster than they would have if they had been on horseback. Belhaven was a smelly fishing village with a small dock and a variety of boats harboured along the docks. The centre of Belhaven was close to where the docks ended, and there was a busy trade going on in the town square. She knew she needed to set her resurrection point at one of the taverns in Belhaven, but found out where the boat for Gliphos was leaving from before that.


    To her dismay, she found out that the boat had already left for the day. The next one would be along at midday the following day, and the cost was one gold piece each way. Even if she had made it to Belhaven earlier, she wouldn''t have been able to afford the trip. Now she was concerned with how she would get enough money by midday tomorrow to pay for the fare. Her best option as it was, was to spend the rest of the day hunting and skinning animals so she could sell them at the market. Medium animal skins and furs were going for about two silver apiece. So she reckoned it would take her quite a while because she would need to kill over 30 creatures to get enough skins to raise the money. There was nothing else to do but to get to work, but first, she needed to ensure that her resurrection point was set in Belhaven. Otherwise, she would end up back in Windfall city if things went wrong.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    After paying for her room with the innkeeper, she was greeted by a shady-looking player. He wore a long leather trench coat and a woollen hat on his head. There was something not right about him, and it wasn''t just his choice of clothing. He wouldn''t look her in the eyes and kept checking his surroundings. She politely refused when he offered her a drink and told him she was too busy because she had to come up with enough money for the boat fare to Gliphos.


    "Gliphos you say, interesting. What exactly are you going to Gliphos for? A player your level should do the storyline quests or at least grinding dungeons until they come out here."


    She explained her situation as briefly as possible, it seemed to be the best tactic. She already knew what to expect, he would warn her that she would get killed by higher level players. But at the end of the day, it was her choice, and she was sticking to it.


    "Interesting. I''ve got a deal for you, listen closely and you''ll be happy that you met me today. I represent the League of Ash, so it''s my job to recruit players to fight for our cause. I can certainly offer you the boat fare so you can be on your way tomorrow. That way you need not risk a situation where your animal skins won''t sell, and you will be left waving the boat to Gliphos goodbye. All I ask in return is that you deliver some documents to my colleague in Bayfrost. It''s a simple task, but since you are going that way, and I''m not planning to return for another couple of days, we both win. How about it?"


    "Okay, I''m happy to deliver some papers for you, but I''m not interested in joining the League of Ash. My son is fighting for the other side you see, I don''t think it would be a good idea for me to represent his enemy. On top of that, I want to stay neutral, I''m not here to play war games."


    "As you wish, just do this little job for me, and we will be even. I wish you best of luck in finding your son."


    Contract: Bayfrost delivery


    Deliver the letters to Peter the Grim


    Accept Yes/No


    The format of the contract was different to that of the quests she had received and accepted in the past. It was clear what she had to do, but there was a load of small print she would have to scroll through to read. She accepted the contract without giving it much thought, but when she checked her system log she found a quite unsettling message;


    You are now aligned with the League of Ash


    Reputation with the League of Ash 0/1000


    She looked up to get an explanation from the shady guy she had been speaking to, but he was halfway across the room, looking to make a fast exit.


    "Hey! What''s going on here? I told you I didn''t want to join any faction. Did you trick me?"


    The guy just shrugged at her and smiled smugly. She hadn''t noticed before, but half of his teeth were covered in a silver enamel, it made his smile quite striking.


    "Maybe, but I didn''t force you to accept the contract. Feel free to make your own way there without it. Best of luck. Think of it like this, at least now only half of the players on Gliphos will be out to get you, the other half will leave you alone as long as your reputation is in good standing with them."


    There didn''t seem any point in arguing with the man. She was tired and needed to log out soon, anyway. Perhaps the best thing was just to accept her fate and be happy that she had a boat pass that would get her to Gliphos in the morning.

 Chapter 37

    The journey to Bayfrost took a few hours. Anika had nothing to do but to stare at the sea and try to avoid the other passengers as much as possible. It looked like most of them were traders of some sort, carrying various goods and chatting about the price of resources and things like that. Anika didn''t feel like joining in. She just wanted to deliver her letters, complete the contract and get on her way.


    Bayfrost was another trading outpost, similar to Belhaven. But the main difference was the icy water and colder climate. This meant that there was less activity around the stalls, with most people huddled inside tents around small bonfires and cauldrons. It was cold, and the wind was biting. Anika could feel the cold chilling her to the bone, so she sewed together two furs from her bag to make something to go around her shoulders.


    Peter the Grim, the person she was supposed to deliver the letters to, was marked on her map. His appearance was similar to that of the recruiter she had met in Belhaven, he had the same long greasy overcoat and didn''t look like he took good care of himself or had a proper diet. His breath stank, and he was unpleasant to look at.


    "I see, Adam asked you to deliver these for him? Clever boy. If I had seen him back here, he would have got a punishment like you wouldn''t believe. But, that''s none of your concern."


    He examined the papers while Anika was waiting for her contract to show as complete.


    "Right, I need you to take these papers to Wildhold. It''s only a couple of hours from here, shouldn''t be a problem right?"


    "Hang on. Your colleague told me that all I had to do was deliver these papers to you that was it. In return, he gave me a pass for the boat. I think I''ve done my part and I have somewhere to go."


    Peter scrunched up his face and looked displeased.


    "Here''s the thing. These papers have to be delivered to Wildhold today, and I need you to help. The way I see it, you don''t have a choice in the matter. I''m starting a timer right now, and if they have not been delivered in the next 6 hours, you will get teleported back to Belhaven where you started. Questions?"Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    It was clear that this guy would not be sympathetic or listen to anything she said. He had already turned his back on her and was checking a shipment of goods that had arrived from the same boat she had got off. Anika felt cheated once again and made a promise to herself not to accept any more contracts from people like this going forward.


    "Lady, before you go. I know we didn''t get off on the right foot, but business is business, right? Just to let you know there is plenty more work for you to do here, and it''s relatively safe. I could use someone like you to bring goods back and forth from here to Belhaven and there might even be some coin in it for you. From Wildhold onwards you will find nothing but killing and fighting, I suggest you stay away from all of that trouble. War is good for business, and like I said I can use some help around here. Think about it."


    No thanks, Anika thought to herself. Why would anybody choose to ride on a boat and deliver goods back-and-forth for fun? She understood that there was money to be made, but realistically, what was the point in spending all your time in a cold climate with people that stank of fish and were pretty bad company.


    She checked her map and saw that there was a small road leading north towards Wildhold. It was marked on her map as a League of Ash stronghold. In the corner of her view, she could see that her contract was still not completed and the six-hour timer had started ticking away. With all the warnings she had received in the last few days about getting killed on sight by other players, she decided that she would follow the main road, but do her best to stay out of sight.


    The road itself was nothing more than a dirt track. On some parts of it, she was able to keep herself out of the way of other players by hiding in bushes and taking cover in the trees. There were different stretches where she had no choice but to move as fast as possible over barren terrain. She didn''t come across many other players, but the ones she did spot in the distance were travelling in groups most of the time. This whole place, since arriving on Gliphos, had a very different feel to it compared to where she came from. Here everything was quite structured, it was apparently a war-zone. She had seen caravans of weapons and food in Bayfrost being escorted out of the town by armoured NPC''s, and most of the traffic on the road was set up similarly. Apparently, nobody travelled alone here, and nobody was running around just having fun. Everyone was busy and serious.


    Anika''s need to stay off the road meant that she wasn''t making as much progress as she would have liked. She was over halfway to her destination, moving through some trees when Loki swooped down to warn her about something. Someone following them, quite a distance back.

 Chapter 38

    When Loki swooped down to warn Anika that someone was following them, she looked back from where they had come, but couldn''t see anything. Loki was alarmed, so Anika checked her map to see what the best plan would be. They were close to Wildhold, perhaps another half an hour, they should be able to see it as soon as they left the safety of the bushes and trees they were walking through. If somebody was out to get them, finding a place to hide might not be the best solution. Anika thought it was best to continue as fast as possible and asked Loki to stay on the lookout.


    A few minutes later, Loki came close and was even more alarmed than before. Whoever was following them had gained on them, but when Anika looked back, she still couldn''t see anyone. It was clear that they were being followed by just one person, so Anika prepared for a confrontation, all the while walking at a faster pace hoping she could avoid a fight.


    The first thing she could think of was to tell Hissy to run ahead and find a good spot for a trap. She needed somewhere that was easy for her to run past, with some cover and a high chance of their follower getting caught in the net. Hissy didn''t need to be told twice, she skittled ahead and got to work. With Loki circling above them, Anika and Fenris prepared themselves for a fight. Fenris was looking back and was getting ready to attack as soon as she saw anything moving, but she kept up a good pace until they arrived where Hissy had made her web.


    It was another beautiful masterpiece. Practically see-through, it covered the distance between a large tree and a bunch of smaller ones. The only way to clear this path in the forest was to run straight through it. Hissy was excited and ran to the back of the trap showing where they should stand to attract the attention of whoever was following them. The spider had a perfect sense of tactics. With no more time to prepare, this seemed like the perfect defence against whoever they would confront.


    Anika was tempted to continue as fast as possible towards Wildhold, hoping whoever was on their trail would get caught in the web and they could get to their destination safely. It was panic in her mind that was urging her not to stand her ground and fight. In the end, she decided to take the confrontation head-on. She wanted to see what would happen and could always have running away as a Plan B.


    Loki signalled to them that their follower was getting close. So as not to seem too conspicuous, Anika and Fenris knelt on the ground with their backs to the trap while hissy took up her position in the top of the large tree. Anika could feel it now, the skin on her neck was prickling, that feeling you get when you know somebody is looking straight at you from behind.


    The next thing that happened was impossible for Anika to make sense of at first. Against her will, she got off the ground and walked towards their opponent. The player who had been following them was tall and wore a luxurious robe with a hood made of dark fabrics. This was some kind of magician. As she got closer and was almost caught in her own trap, she could see that the player was casting a spell. The character looked female and had light green skin on her face and hands. She was looking straight at Anika, smiling through sharp teeth while waving the fingers of one of our hands in the air, as if she was caressing an invisible object. Whatever this magician was doing to her, there was no way for Anika to resist, all she could do was watch and return the stare she was receiving.


    Anika ended up getting caught in hissy''s web. There was nothing she could do, she couldn''t control her body to get her knife out let alone access her bow. Fenris had seen what was happening and had circled the trees making her way to their attacker. Before the wolf got there, Anika heard a loud screech as Loki dove at the magician, pulled off its hood and pecked at its eyes. This must have been enough for the magician to get distracted and stop channelling the spell that was taking hold of Anika. She suddenly had full control of her limbs again and cut herself free of the web. When she got her senses back and was free, she saw that Fenris and Loki were doing their best at tearing the attacker to pieces. She got her bow ready and fired at the magician, but so far the damage from her arrows was only a fraction of the damage her companions were causing.


    The magician was casting another spell while trying to swat Loki off like a fly and holding up an arm to deflect Fenris''s bites. With the hood down, Anika could see that their opponent was a female. Her eyes were still locked on Anika, but the smile was gone. She looked a little bewildered, then she became deadly focused as she was casting what seemed to be a spell of dark purple magic. Before Anika could do anything about it, a bolt of magic whizzed through the air straight at her. It hit her in the chest and knocked her back two steps, and it was so powerful it had taken almost half of her health away. One more bolt like that and she would be close to dying.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    As she was recovering from the bolt of dark magic, she thought back to how useful Beth would be in this situation. Her ability to silence magic spells like this would be handy, but she felt that Fenris and Loki were doing a good job. The magician they were facing was getting ready to cast a second spell, her eyes still locked on Anika. Anika darted behind the tree they had used for their trap to avoid the next spell. Hissy was sitting at the top, and to Anika''s frustration wasn''t doing anything to improve the situation. She commanded her to attack the target. There was no point in waiting for the magician to walk into their trap. That plan had gone south a long time ago.


    Anika moved around the trees so she could see what was going on. She assumed that running out of the line of sight had prevented her from taking another bolt of magic to the chest. She could now see Hissy making her way to the magician, who was doing her best to get Loki off her face at that point. When their enemy was no longer focused on Anika, she shot from a safe distance and saw with delight that Hissy had made her way up underneath the robes of their attacker. In a look of shock and pain, the magician grabbed her dress and rubbed and scratched it frantically, Hissy must have got her venomous fangs stuck into the lower regions of the player.


    Their efforts had resulted in the health of the magician getting just below 50%. Fenris and Loki had both taken more damage, but they were fighting . As Anika was back in view of the magician, she saw she was preparing another one of the dark spells. Leaving it too late to get behind cover, Anika took another hit to the chest and was left with only a fraction of her health remaining. Seeing this, the magician must have decided to finish her off and ran towards her while casting another spell in her hand. Anika panicked, hid behind a tree for a couple of moments but knew it would only take the slightest bit of damage before she was gone for good. Although running away was an option, she was pretty sure that she would make some kind of damage from behind. The only option she could think of was to climb the tree she was hiding behind. Once she got up into a couple of branches she peeked around the side to see how much time she had before the magician had closed in on her. At that moment she saw that Hissy had tripped the attacker up by shooting strands of webbing between her legs. She was now lying face down on the ground with Fenris and Loki attacking wildly.


    That last stroke of genius from Hissy saved them. The goblin magician could get to her feet and made an attempt at running away. With Fenris on her back, she didn''t get far and almost without the help from Anika, her three rare companions had taken their opponent down.


    In the instant that the magician died, Anika felt the familiar rush of gaining another level. Her surroundings flashed in bright light, but this time the sensation was even stronger than before, and it seemed to last a few seconds longer. She checked her combat log as soon as everything had returned to normal.


    You have reached level 9


    You have reached level 10


    You have reached level 11


    She couldn''t believe her eyes. Somehow, she had just gained three levels from taking down one player. That must have been because of the difference in their levels. She remembered reading about players who specialised in killing creatures that were a couple of levels higher than them; they did this for the additional experience points and for the challenge of it. With that in mind, all of this made sense. The player they had been fighting didn''t even show a level where the tag would have shown it. All she had seen during the fighting was a small red and black skull where the level indication would have been.


    Anika spent time rewarding her companions for a job well done. They shared food, and before long they were ready to complete the last part of the journey. She was playing the fight back through her mind and thought how lucky she had been and how close they had come to what would have been a complete disaster. If she had died, she would have been sent back to Belhaven which would leave her at least a full day behind schedule.


    Thinking of schedules, the quest timer was still ticking away, and there was no time to lose with less than an hour left on the clock. She had to get to Wildhold and be done with the quest as soon as possible, and from there she could make her way to the tournament hub.


    Not wanting to run into any other players, and counting herself lucky that she had escaped from the previous encounter intact, Anika and her companions stayed off the main road. Before long, the walls of Wildhold could be seen up ahead. Anika relaxed, with Wildhold in sight, she looked around, but there were no other players to be seen. They would have to cross an area of open ground, but if she mounted Fenris, they could make it, even if they were spotted going across it.


    She dismissed Hissy but told Loki to do one last sweep of their surroundings, then she got onto Fenris and prepared to make a dash across the open ground. Loki returned with bad news. She had spotted a group of three players who had been moving at a fast pace directly behind them from where the last encounter had taken place.


    There was no chance that Anika could take on three players at once, and it was safe to assume they would be maxed level players. The only way forward was to ride like all hell and hope she could get to the gates of Wildhold in time.

 Chapter 39

    Anika and Fenris arrived at the gates of Wildhold, they were shut, and she only had 9 minutes left on her quest timer. She dismounted the wolf and hammered the gates.


    "Open the gates please!"


    A guard looked down at her from the ledge above the gates. Two others joined him, pointing their guns at her.


    "Who are you and what is your business here?"


    She pulled out her documents and waved them in the air. Please, don''t give me any more shit, she thought. There was a marker on her map, showing that the location to deliver the from Peter the Grim was right on the other side of these walls. Then she looked back across the open plain she had just crossed. Three silhouettes were coming towards them at a fast pace.


    "I am on a contract to deliver these letters to Wildhold. I was told I could have safe passage to deliver them." She checked her character screen with factions and reputations listed. She was aligned with the League of Ash, but her reputation was at 0/1000.


    "This is my first contract for the League of Ash. I have travelled a long way to support your cause. Please let me in, it is very urgent."


    The three guards stared at her for what seemed like hours. All the while she was checking her timer and looking back at the three figures getting closer and closer. Then the guard shouted to open the gates, and she could enter the stronghold.


    Once inside the gates, she could see that the entire structure was an army base. There were players everywhere, carrying all sorts of weaponry and wearing uniforms with different symbols and marking on them. Some were even carrying banners as if they were just about to deploy into battle. Nobody paid her any attention, so she made her way straight to the section marked out on her map. She still had a few minutes before the time was up. Her destination looked to be an office building of some type. There was a notice board outside with several contracts available to players. Before entering, she checked behind her to see if she was still being followed. The guards hadn''t shut the gates behind her, and she could now see three players walking straight towards her at a leisurely pace.


    Not knowing if she was safe, or what to expect from a confrontation, she went inside the office building and spoke with the first NPC she could find. To her relief, the contract was accepted, and her notification showed that she had been successful. Her reputation with the faction had also increased.


    Reputation with the League of Ash 5/1000


    Now what? She had a good feeling that those three players were waiting for her outside. As she went through it in her mind, the initial panic she had felt went away. If they had been allowed through the gates, they must also be aligned with this faction. Wouldn''t that mean they couldn''t attack her? She wasn''t sure. There was no way forward other than to walk outside and figure out what was going on.


    She was greeted by two tall male playerselves judging by their long legs and pointy ears. The third was female, human as far as she could tell, but she was wearing a lot of armour and could hide anything underneath it all. She was wearing a helmet, so the breastplate with slight curves on her chest gave it away. They all wore the same tunics, dark green with a single grey stripe running from one shoulder to the opposite hip. The heavily armoured female took off her helmet and introduced herself.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "My name is Fenna, pleased to meet you." She was smiling and held out her hand.


    Anika felt her entire body relax. There would be no fighting and who knew, maybe these guys could help her in the right direction. With a sigh of relief, Anika shook her hand and introduced herself. The two elves shook her hand, Hagas and Dakath.


    "I can see you are level 10," Fenna said, "but I''m willing to bet you were a few levels lower before that encounter in the woods south of here. Am I right?"


    "You saw what happened?" If they watched the fight, why didn''t they help her Anika thought to herself.


    "Ye, we saw you take down a level 60 warlock. With a bit of help of course. How did you manage to control those companions? That''s what I''d like to know."


    None of them looked to be hunters, they all carried large swords, Fenna carried a shield as well. Anika had a flashback from when she was confronted in Windfall city and had to explain herself. She didn''t know what to say, but her secret was probably out if they had seen the whole thing in the woods.


    "I''m not sure, to be honest. They just do what I tell them. I think I got lucky in the woods, wouldn''t want to try that again that''s for sure."


    "Well, we could use some of your luck." Fenna looked at her friends. They had been silent so far but were watching her with rapt attention. They nodded as if approving what Fenna was about to suggest.


    "We have a small garrison, east of here, near the front lines. With some decent gear, I think you could help us out. You would get a haven to resurrect, and we can help to get your reputation with the League of Ash up pretty quickly."


    "Thank you for the offer, I am flattered. But I''m not here to play. I need to get to the tournament hub as soon as possible. My son is in with the Crimson Alliance, and I know he is in those tournaments. I need to speak to him urgently."


    The three players looked shocked. Fenna''s pleasant smile had gone, and one of the elves shook his head. There was an awkward silence as they stared at each other.


    It was Fenna who broke the silence. Her smile was back, but there was also a look of concern on her face.


    "You are welcome to try, but I don''t think you will get very far. Everyone is gearing up for the tournaments, and the surrounding areas can hostile. We''re not even sure we can get our best fighters there for the next one, so how you''d manage, I just can''t figure out."


    Anika felt the hopes of finding her son sink into the bottom of her stomach.


    "I''ll make you an offer. Take it or leave it." Fenna crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You can join our garrison as a scout. There''ll be a lot of work to do, dailies and patrols mostly. In return, you will get to resurrect in our garrison, and it will be in everyone''s interest that we help you level up and get you some better gear. You can also tag along when we attend the next tournament. If we make it that is. It''s your best chance of finding your son as far as I can tell. How you will get close enough to him for a chat is another matter, but that will be your problem. What do you say?"


    Anika knew what the right answer was, but it didn''t come easy. She had a feeling that she was committing herself to something again, like the contract from Belhaven. There were consequences to the choice she was about to make, but she didn''t have a clue what they might be. Was there an alternative? Her intentions of playing this game solo and finding her son all by herself were perhaps a little na?ve. Maybe she should consider herself lucky that she had this opportunity. She thought it over one last time. She had one clear goal, this option would get her closer, so there was nothing more to think about.


    "I would be grateful for any help I can get, I accept."


    You have been invited to join a clan: Battleshifters


    Accept: Yes/No


    She accepted the invitation without hesitation. It was time for her to learn what life in a garrison would be like and she felt she had a lot to learn about this new aspect of the game. They all shook hands, and she was invited to join them in shopping for supplies before they left Wildhold. The two elves finally opened up and started to talk to her about what to expect. By the end of the afternoon, she was excited about the next few days and feeling good about her prospects.


    To be continued...