Umichi smiled at Suki's message. He felt quite happy about it. When Fujiwara's message came up, he got embarrassed. Man, am I that obvious when I am embarrassed? He sighed to himself. Umichi flicked through the guidebook a bit, there was a quest of interest in Citadel, but it appears they needed a blacksmith. They had met one, but they disappeared. Hm... I wonder if I should take up blacksmithing .... but I am more interested in being a tamer. The door to the inn opened, he turned to see Suki and Yumi. A little behind them was Fujiwara. Upon glimpsing Suki's face, his own started to blush a little, thinking about their future plans of a date. He shook his head.

"Over here guys". Umichi called them over. "I just got a quest earlier from the chef, Amelia, from the restaurant. I'd like your help if possible. Also, I found an interesting quest in the guide book. For now, let's discuss what we plan to do today, and what we will do. Although Citadel has an interesting quest, it's the opposite direction of Tolbana from The Starting City. I believe Tolbana is closest to the dungeon to go to the next floor. What do you guys think?" speaking in a more confident, and authoritative tone to the group then when he was earlier with Suki and Fujiwara.

Suki looked up at Umichi's voice, smiling, and went over with Yumi, listening as he told them about the quest he had just received. She thought on what they could do."Well, the quests from NPC's are given because they are needed for the NPC's to do what they need to do, so Amelia's quest should be answered first. We should be able to reach the town of beginnings by tonight, and then citadel by tomorrow, if we finish the quest off quick. No one's found the dungeon door yet" Suki said, opening the guide book, "I'm sure if they ad, it would b in the guide book. it's the best way of keeping those on the front lines informed, after all. So, we may as well undertake what quests we can, earn money and experience, until the dungeon's found" She said, dismissing the guide book and looking up.

She brought out a map too, something she had brought of a merchant earlier in the day, "The town of beginnings is here, see? And then Horunka, which is the second city, and then Geniko, where we are now. So if we finish off the quest quick smart, its only a few hours between here and the town of beginnings, so..." Suki trailed of, realising she was probably sounding like a geek, but Suki liked knowing things, and knowing where they were, and how to get places seemed like good knowledge. Still, she blushed, and set the map away like she had the guide book.

She cleared her throat, "So, quest?"

---

The mysterious figure watched the group, hidden, having spent the days since being in this world training skills such as stealth, in order to sneak about undetected, knowing very few people would even thinking about the extra skills. Just as well for him.

It meant he could watch, and wait for the perfect opportunity to cause trouble. He didn't believe this game was real, so why not have a little fun while he was trapped here?

Fujiwara contemplated the situation for a minute or so before responding.

"It'd be quite logical to assume that the dungeon wouldn't be close to the Starting City, or else there wouldn't be a point of exploring the first floor. There's also the issue of being unable to grind while there, so I'd rather not head back... So yeah, let's head to the next town over; it's probably more efficient than treading over ground that's already been covered." he stated to the group, opening up his world map on his screen. "The father we head, the more dangerous things get... But at the same time it gives more of a chance for us to hit the payload by finding something undiscovered. So, what are these quests that you were talking about exactly? Mind showing them to us?"

To him, it seemed more likely to find something forward instead of back; backtracking was only necessary in classical RPGs or late-game missions, so what use would that be at this point in the game? In fact, in his mind it was certain that the farther they got to exploit the resources, the more prepared they'd be for the later monsters and all.

Adrian walks up to the group noticing that he has met two of them previously and that the third wields a blade similar to him. Standing somewhat aloof and with his arms crossed he says in a calm voice " I know where the dungeon is". Then he simply waits for the others to notice his presence.

Suki looked to Adrian when he walked up and stated he knew where the dungeon is. "Yeah, its near Tolbana, but even the beta's haven't found the entrance yet" She said, "its all in the guide book. The beta's, or some of them at least, are continuing to update it. I don't know how they are doing so within the game, but they are" she said, looking back to Umichi when Fujiwara asked about the quests,

"You can undertake many quests, we've done a few quests since this all started, but I'm not sure what this one is" She waited for Umichi to answer.

Fujiwara turned to the person who claimed to know the location of the dungeon and scoffed.

"Heh. You're funny. The beta testers would've already found the place and let the information out for the public to use, in which case we wouldn't be discussing such a thing. I highly doubt that you have that information, so I'd recommend not trying to bluff something and just say what's on your mind." he stated, glaring at the boy before turning back to the rest of the group.

"I've already ascertained the existence of quests in this game, so that's no big deal. But yeah, what are the quests you've been talking about anyhow, Umichi?" he asked before pausing for a second. "Wait, just to verify: if there's no quest marker or anything, how are you able to tell where there's a quest? Is it just trial and error?"

"meh whatever you say" Adrian replies nonchalantly and turns to walk off. Before he leaves he turns his head "you guys put way to much stock in beta testers if you ask me" with that he starts to slowly walk off. guess that means more mobs for me to farm myself smiling he starts to whistle as he walks resting his hand on the hilt of his blade.

Umichi

Umichi listened as Suki talked, and nodded when Fujiwara, glancing to Adrian when he appeared. "We all know where the dungeon is" He said, taking out is guide book and showing the entry about the boss dungeon.

guide book entry said the first floor boss dungeon is a 20 level labyrinth, located some thirty minutes from Tolbana, the boss, So far, we haven't found the entrance. Do not go in alone! Do not risk it!

Umichi thought there should be more information, but knew the betas in control of the guide book were probably working over time to update everything. He watched Adrian leave, and shrugged. "You'd be safer in a group, but we can't force you"

"Anyway, the quest I got is from Amelia, we have to colect Little Nepent Fruits, and Dire Wolf meat, and bring it back to her" he said, "It will go quicker if I have more help"

Suki

Suki didn't think she'd have to say she'd join, and simply waited until they would start out, having already stocked up on supplies. As she waited, she decided to equip the new armor she had brought, brown leather over her chest and shoulders, thinner, lighter leather on her legs and arms to provide defense, but to also keep her flexible. She equipped clothes, simply cloth, over the leather, and tied the shirt around her waist with a belt. She re-equipped her Annael blade, and continued to wait.

She answered Fujiwara's question when he asked it, "Its just luck of the draw so far I think. We did one early, and all it took was simply talking to the bartender"

Fujiwara looked at the guidebook entry in astonishment before shaking his head and sighing.

"Well. That's a... Okay, I guess they would've had the general area pinned down, but that statement seems kind of contradictory. How would they know it's roughly half an hour away if they haven't found the place yet...?" he asked, trailing off before massaging his forehead. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Anyways... The quest you proposed doesn't seem that hard, depending on droprate of the quest items. And... If quests are luck of the draw, then you guys seem to be damn lucky with them. Anyways, if we're going hunting just let me make sure my items are topped off."

Quickly pulling open his inventory, Fujiwara quickly checked his equipment to be sure it was all fully repaired and that he had enough potions for now. Seeing as how everything looked up to par, he closed the menu and looked at the other party members.

"Alright, I'm ready whenever you guys are."

Umichi grabbed what supplies he needed, while Suki waited with Yumi. Suki did however approach an NPC Alchemist, and asked for some advice. The NPC gave her some advice, and Suki took this into consideration, pondering this as they waited.

Soon, Umichi was ready and he took his customary leader role. Suki thought he was adapting well to that. It suited him, or so they thought. She added Fujiwara to the party as they walked, heading out side of town, soon encountering a large pack of Direwolves. Suki quickly tried to count them, "I count 15" She said, slightly uneasy.

It was almost like the game wanted to challenge them, wanted to make then adjust quickly. She thought that the game was being unpredictable, with close to 10,000 players on for a number of days. That meant the game was becoming increasingly risky.

Umichi studied the wolves, "Okay, we should work together. I reckon I can take five or more, but lets all take what we think. Be wary, watch your health"

Suki waited for Umichi to begin, before following. She began to attack, starting to use her dancing ability from in the real life, to move swiftly, and dodge attacks. She figured she may as well use he dancing skills for something-they had never been much use to her otherwise, on the farm. She wielded her blade, mainly attacking using horizontal, slash and Vertical Arc, but once she used horizontal Square. She was so shocked at that, that she stood there dumbfounded for a minute before Umichi cried out at her to watch her back, but before she could turn, Yumi had attacked the direwolf, and Suki went to attack another one.

Fujiwara nodded and briskly followed the rest of the party outside of the town, placing his right hand on the katana sheathed at his side as they encountered the pack of wolves. As he watched the others rush into battle, Fujiwara quickly looked at the wolves focusing on his team and not on him. Smiling, he dashed into the fray and drew his blade, using <<Tsujikaze>> to run through a wolf that was about to jump onto Umichi before moving onto the next wolf. Gritting his teeth, he followed onto the next wolf with <<Ukifune>> and launched it into the air before impaling it on his katana. As it shattered into polygons, Fujiwara used his left hand to push up his glasses higher up before looking for the largest cluster of wolves and leaping into them. As they aggroed onto him, Fujiwara closed his eyes and took a deep breath; once they moved close enough, he used <<Tsujiguruma>> to cut down the four or five wolves that came at him. Watching the others fight as the wolves began to respawn, he sighed and sheathed his katana before looking at his inventory to check if he had obtained any of the quest materials.

"Wait, what was it that we needed for the quest again?" he yelled to Umichi as he closed the menu and retreated a bit from the field of monsters.

Umichi attacked some of the wolves, noting that more wolves were appearing. Was this because of the quest, or were there more in this area then they knew? He kept an eye on Suki, and the others as well, but Dire wolves didn't offer too much of a challenge.

Soon the pack was killed, and Umichi checked his inventory, looking over at Fujiwara when he asked what they were looking for, "From the dire wolves, meat, from little Nepents, fruit. Need 10 meat and 2 fruit" He said

Suki checked her inventory, seeing three dire wolf meat. "I have three" She said with a smile, sending it to Umichi in a trade, since this was his quest.

"And I have two. This is going to take a while" Umichi said, as Suki turned to Fujiwara

"Do you have any?" She asked, looking about, seeing more direwolves near by, "Lets finish collecting the meat then find some Nepents"

Fujiwara nodded and reopened his inventory after repositioning himself further from the incoming monsters.

"I've got three pieces of the stuff here. Two to go!" he shouted to Umichi before closing the menu again and heading back into the field. Quickly leaping forward, he drew his blade and began the wolves that were just beginning to respawn. Quickly using a combination of «Tsuchikaze» and «Ukifune», Fujiwara cut his way through about twn more wolves before he backed off again, sheathing his blade and rubbing hard right arm.

"Gah, almost forgot fatigue was a thing... Again. Geez, where the heck's a stamina potion when you need it?... Or a stamina bar, for that matter?" he muttered to himself as he drank a potion from his inventory and stretched a bit before checking his items again.

"Alright, I think that makes it nine total. Tenth didn't drop for me just now!" he shouted before moving towards the rest of the group.

Suki moved swiftly, to attack the wolves closest to her. She used what skills she was comfortable with and ones that were easy to use and could be used quickly, with a slow cool down period, yet she didn't get another drop of meat. She sighed, looking to Yumi but it didn't appear that there was any from her either. Suki guessed that there was a low drop rate for the meat, making this harder than it should be. She glanced about, seeing Umichi fighting a few wolves. She went to help him, but before she could get there, he'd dispatched them. Suki knew that Umichi had a higher level then the rest of them, or at least herself and Yumi. No doubt wolves were not an issue for him.

"Got one" he said, "let's find a couple of Little Nepents now" he Lester way to the trees, typical area for Nepents.

Suki followed after him, glancing around them. It seemed quite for now, and Suki let her thoughts wonder, smiling to herself.

Akane woke up with her stomach roiling with hunger. She checked the time on her menu and was surprised, she’d really slept in. Through the holes in her thrown together shelter, she could see a red sky. Already the sun was setting. She checked her inventory. Her cheap beginner bread was starting to run out, and though it was only her second day in the game, she was already finding that she wanted something more palatable. Something more filling, and not growing a little stale and dry.

She ate half a loaf before preparing to leave. It wouldn’t do her too much good if she ate it greedily without thinking of the future. She wanted to delay a trip to a village or city to resupply for as long as possible. Perhaps she could even put off feelings of hunger for several days. The one problem with that method though, was that food might have a bit of an effect on stamina and the hunger would distract her. She doubted she could ignore her feelings of hunger so fully that she could function on the same level as if she was satisfied.

Akane considered her supplies. She doubted she could eat the meat drops as they were. They were raw, so she would probably have to roast them one way or another to eat them. However, starting a fire in a forest was foolish. Aside from the possibility of accidentally burning down a forest, a fire would be like a beacon to her location to any living thing that could see the light. Besides, while she could probably roast things well enough in real life, the game system might be a bit different. It might rely on a skill to make it successful, and she doubted she had any natural ability to start a fire without help of a skill or flint and steel.

I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it Akane decided. For now she had enough food to last her a while longer. Cautiously she peered over the top of her hollow tree and searched for any sign of movements or creatures below her. Patiently, she waited, until she decided that it should be safe enough to climb down. Carefully she hoisted herself up over the walls of her hollow tree and then, balancing precariously at the top, she threw herself up at an overhanging tree branch that had grown over the top of the fallen tree. She crawled the rest of the way to where the branch met the trunk, and from there, puzzled her way back down to the ground a distance away.

She picked out a direction opposite of the city, roughly in line with the path she’d traveled and set out to continue exploring her surroundings. If she was surrounded entirely by wilderness, perhaps it would be safe enough to turn the tree into a sturdier home, and make access a bit easier. She’d always wanted a tree house, she reflected. At least, she had when she was young. Admittedly, since this was a game, probably the best she could do was make it more comfortable by adding items inside it, and using a rope to make it easier to enter. After a moment, she paused. Hadn’t she read something about housing that would be later in the game? There had been something about that on the forums and in the handbook. Even so, she needed a place to stay, so perhaps she’d have to go ahead and make her tree house.

For now, it was more important to have a safe place to stay, and make certain that this area was safe enough to stay in. She checked the treetops for climbing creatures from time to time. If she could climb, so could others and it occurred to her that most things wouldn’t look up when they were scanning for trouble. Perhaps she could use that to her advantage. A strange fragrance brought her mind back to the present. She paused and lifted her head to look around, scenting the air like a hound. She turned her head this way and that and started off in the direction that she thought the smell was coming from. Food? Am I smelling food? In the wilderness?

Perhaps this area wasn’t as uninhabited as she had first thought. Quietly, she padded through the forest. She did her best to avoid leaves and twigs, and detoured around large piles when she could. She had no desire to alert whoever was making food to her coming. For all she knew, it could be NPC bandits or players that perhaps she wouldn’t want to run into. She followed the scent through the forest, and was glad she had memorized and marked the location of her tree house on her map. At the source of the scent, she found a little hut. She had nearly stumbled upon it before she knew it was there.

She peered through the deepening gloom at it. It didn’t look very big, and it looked rather comfortable, but she had no idea who or what lived in it. She circled the hut looking for a clue about who or what lived in it. There were a few drying racks, a very tiny garden, a well, and a small storage shed not too far away. Somehow, the small garden reassured her some. She had some doubts that bandits or dangerous wild creatures or monsters would bother with puttering around a little garden, and the very fragrant smell of the soup made her think that the person within was more inclined to peaceful days and domestic chores. However, looks could be deceiving.

She deliberated a little longer, but the reminder of the coming gloom and coming night monsters decided her. She would see who lived in the hut. Perhaps she’d find a safe place to stay. If, instead, she found danger, perhaps she could kill the owner and take over the hut. She readied her sword and approached the hut. At the door, she took a deep breath to steady herself before knocking. When a kindly woman answered the door, she automatically relaxed. If a man had answered it, perhaps she would have simply fled.

“Yes?” the kindly woman asked.

“Um… Hello, I’m Akane. I was wandering around the forest when I found your hut, and was curious about who lived here.” She said. She felt her mouth water a bit at the smell. From up close, it smelled even better. Damn… It smells so good. I really wanna eat it. I really wanna try it.

Her thoughts must have been written on her face, because after a moment, the woman invited her inside for a meal. Akane was hesitant at first, but was eventually coaxed inside under the excuse that the woman had made plenty of food, and missed sharing a meal with someone. Eating dinner alone made one so very lonely, or so the woman said. Theoretically, Akane had to agree, but personally, she had no real issues with eating alone, except maybe at some of the darker hours of night. After all, she’d been eating alone for the past seven years. Some things a person just got used to.

The woman sat Akane down in a chair as she went to get some bowls and finish the soup. She introduced herself as Nana. Nana, as far as Akane could tell, was a very cheerful friendly woman. Perhaps she was a bit too friendly and cheerful. Her open and friendly demeanor somewhat unsettled Akane, worse yet, Akane had found herself warming up to her and she had made her resolution to be distrustful and suspicious. Perhaps she could change that rule to be distrustful of players? After all, the NPCs weren’t players; they were programmed to behave a certain way. Then again, their creator locked all the current players in this stupid death trap, so perhaps NPCs still couldn’t be trusted.

In the end, Akane wanted to just hit her head against a wall a few times. Now that she’d accepted this dinner invitation, she could hardly just walk out again before the meal. Her mind came up with all sorts of devious tricks this Nana woman could be up to. After all, it was a bit strange for a woman to live alone in the woods. It wasn’t safe, so perhaps, she was part of some sort of elaborate trap. Perhaps she’d drug unsuspecting players and rob them. Suddenly, the soup didn’t seem as good.

Akane decided she would eat, and then not linger too long after; she’d head back to her tree and wait, to see if her food had been tampered with. Akane felt much better once she had a plan in mind. Perhaps she could pull this off without being too rude after all.

Akane was ravenous again by the time the soup was completed. The bread she’d eaten had only taken the edge off her hunger, and the heady scent of the rich soup hadn’t helped much. Akane did her best to hide her eagerness and trepidation as she watched Nana ladle out the soup into their bowls. On a little plate to the side, there were some herbs for seasoning and some salt and pepper.

Akane decided to forgo the extra herbs first and try the soup. It was delicious and filling. Akane experimented with the seasonings self-consciously, but she was curious about what they tasted like. She was full after two bowls. She helped clean up her bowl and utensils before thanking Nana and heading for the door.

“Leaving so soon? You can stay the night if you want. I have an extra bed.”

Akane shook her head at the offer. “Thanks, but I’ve already rested. I’m very grateful for the meal.”

“Then can you come by tomorrow morning? We can have breakfast together.”

“That’s…” Akane thought about it. She felt a bit bad for imposing on Nana’s hospitality. She’d already eaten her food once. She glanced up at Nana’s face, and saw a growing disappointment in it.

“Yes, I’ll come tomorrow.” Perhaps she could bring a gift of some meat or something in exchange for the food. Nana’s face brightened at that, and Akane felt a bit of bubbly warmth inside at that happy expression.

“Alright then, travel safely, and good hunting Akane.” Nana said and bid her goodbye.

As a precaution Akane set off in a direction opposite of her tree and circled back around once she was well out of sight. She felt fine, and the food had also tasted fine. Besides that, Nana had served her directly from the pot and they’d eaten the same food. Maybe Nana was trustworthy, but Akane resolved not to fully trust her for a few days at the very least.

Seeing Suki smile to herself, Umichi ended up smiling too. "Oh right, let me tell you something about this now guys." he stopped walking, and faced the group. He had remembered that this required the Little Nepent's Fruit. Remembering from hist first night, what had happened. It was daytime still, but it wouldn't be very wise still. "What we are looking for is a Little Nepent with a fruit on it's head. Do not attack it right away. We will need a formation. Now, you might be thinking why, it's because, a hoarde of Little Nepents will come at us afterwards. And I don't mean, 10 or 20. I mean at least 50, maybe even 100. So I want us to have our backs to each other, we will be surrounded quite easily. We can reassure that we don't need to watch our backs, or at least not as much this way, and focus on what is ahead. If you let one pass you, call out. If we find two Nepents with fruits on their heads, we will only do one at a time. Any issues with that?" He was stern in his tone. It was dangerous to take on so many Nepents at once, any enemy for that fact. They surround you and will attack from all directions, leaving nowhere to dodge, and you couldn't guard all the attacks. Some would even come from above.

As he was about to step forward and lead again, "Oh right, you gonna give me the meat Fujiwara?", Umichi asked, sending a trade. Looking out ahead, he could see a Little Nepent. But it was hard to tell if it had a fruit on it's head or not, from this distance. He got low, and started to creep forward, indicating for the others to follow him slowly. Approaching, he could see the Little Nepent. It didn't have the fruit. He sighed a little. In the whole game, he had only seen one once, but then again, they were probably rare, and he was probably unlucky at that time. It had also only been three days. Standing again, he rushed in with a <<Sonic Leap>> he closed the distance and killed the Nepent. The area was rather open, where the Nepent had been, and Umichi was now standing. It wasn't a very large space, but it was a bit suspicious. He called the others to come to him. "Nothing here." He scanned the area. In the game, his senses were dulled a bit. Probably due to things like skills and stats. He couldn't sense where things were as well, but he still had some general idea of where things were without looking. The forest, at least close to them, was too quiet, too empty. Something wasn't right. "Everyone, be on high alert, something isn't right here." He told the others, as they approached, still looking to see what was going on in the forest.

Suki took a health potion even though her health wasn't that far depleted. She wanted to be careful, and did not want to end up nearly dying because of Nepents again. "Sounds like fun. A pregnant Nepent" She said, with a soft laugh. She knew she shouldn't make a joke out of it, but she couldn't help herself.

It was going to be a dangerous fight, and Suki glanced about warily as if one of the Fruit Nepents would appear. She followed after Umichi, moving slowly and staying behind him. She tried to be silent as she walked. Seeing that it didn't have a fruit, she watched Umichi attack the nepent, killing it easily.

She went over, a little bit wary as she looked about, aggreeing that something wasn't right. Trusting in the others, she closed her eyes, staining her hearing. During her morning training, and other training, Suki had been focusing on some passive skills, one was listening. This enable here with each time she trained to hear things better, and to listen through doors and such.

She stilled couldn't hear anything, and she opened her eyes, more wary now. "I don't like it" Se said, shifting, looking about. "I suggest having teleport crystals ready, just in case"

Fujiwara nodded at Umichi's statement, understanding the danger of triggered horde battles from other games and how swarms of low level enemies could easily run over an unprepared group. Selecting the wolf meat and dropping it into the trade window that just appeared, Fujiwara froze at Suki's mention of teleport crystals. He concluded the trade and stood there for a few moment before facepalming at his own stupidity.
"...Teleport crystals are a thing, huh...? I didn't even know those existed. Crap, I'm such an idiot... Any of you guys got a spare?" he asked before shaking his head. "Actually, let's just prep right before the fight itself; it'll probably take a bit to find those things if they're horde triggers..."
Trailing off, Fujiwara gripped his katana's handle as he followed slightly behind the rest of the group as they entered the forest.

It was evident that something was not right, but nothing was happening. Not even monsters were spawning in the forest at the moment. "I think we should leave here, and go to another forest. I don't like the fact that nothing has been appearing." Umichi cautiously said, taking care to take a look at the surroundings. Taking out a town crystal, he passed it over to Fujiwara, "Don't drop it" he told him. Starting to lead the group out, a Nepent with a fruit suddenly spawned. This was way to suspicious. It had spawned almost right in front of him, he jumped back, gaining some distance.
"Guys ... I'll ask for your opinions. Fight it, or leave it alone. I feel it's way too suspicious that it spawned like this, and that there are hardly any other enemies around right now." He asked the others for their opinion, keeping his eye on the Nepent. It was almost unsettling that nothing was happening at the moment, besides the Nepent spawning.

Fujiwara took the crystal and thanked Umichi before dropping it in inventory and looking at the Nepent that just spawned.

"Er... Yeah, that thing's just way too convenient. It's like one of those lures that you see from an angler fish or something- or, at least, that's what it feels like. Can we like... Flick rocks at it to lure it into the field or something? Or maybe someone has a spare weapon or something to chuck at its face? I dunno, but it feels eerily calm here. Wait, actually... Everyone back up and as close to the edge of the forest as you can. If it moves when we aggro it, just pull it to the field and then kill it. Makes the horde battle you spoke about a lot easier, and if it's trying to bait us instead we find another one and don't go ham to get everyone killed. That sound like a good idea?" Fujiwara asked before kneeling down and finding a few rocks on the ground. He quickly picked them up and began to mindlessly toss one up and down.

"I'm ready whenever you are. Or you could start. Either way."