As Serina walked around, she found the town to be...absolutely jam-packed full of people. NPCs and players alike bustled about to accomplish whatever tasks it was that they needed to finish. Looking around, Serina noted a lot of the more ragged looking people, likely players, were carrying crates. This implied that some form of starter quest was available, however Serina didn't quite know how the mechanics of this worked. So, for now she aimlessly wandered the endless crowd of people, slipping through and creating a mental map of this town, learning where various places were.

After Serina had gotten a basic feel for where everything was, she saw a man, apparently human but he may be something else since Serina didn't quite have a feel for the races' appearances yet. This man was struggling with a heavy keg, so naturally Serina darted over to help him. Taking part of the weight into her arms, she asked him "Hello sir, do you need any help?" The young man smiled and said "Oh yes, actually could you help me with something else? This keg is full of ale for the tavern, I was going to slip away and deliver it but if you could do it for me I can watch my shop instead. Do you mind?"

A quest indicator appeared in the top-left of Serina's vision, though it vanished when she nodded and replied with a "Well, of course I can help!" With that, the man smiled, gave his thanks, and released his hold on the cask. Serina staggered briefly under the full weight of the cask but, with a loud grunt of effort, straightened out. She'd seen the tavern not too far away, so she began to slowly make her way there. Several males, apparently players, offered to help, but their smiles wreaked of lust so Serina turned them all down. After arriving at the Tavern 5 minutes later, she lugged it inside and the Barkeep ran to meet her.

The Barkeep, thankfully a big burly man, took the cask from her and said "Thank ya little miss, I've been waiting on this cask of ale. I'll pay ya, but do you think you could help me with a bit more?" Serina nodded but took this chance to ask a "Local" about the various races "Umm, actually before I do, do you think you could explain a bit to me about the different people here? I mean like the Veni Yan and the Novbelle, I mean." The Barkeep nodded kindly and said "Well, alright missy, I think I can do that." With that, the quest indicator in her view reappeared but changed

CHAPTER ONE: FROM MERCHANT TO MERCHANT COMPLETED
CHAPTER TWO: THE WORLD AND IT'S PEOPLE IN PROGRESS

"The Veni Yan are those magic types you may see running around, with their tattoos. Their big thing is castin elemental magic, you know like fire and what have you. I've never been a big fan of that stuff myself, but the Yan seem pretty big on it, so I guess there isn't really anything wrong with it. Their big thing is they hit like a ton of bricks, but if you get some good equipment, you can counter their elemental damage. I guess you could say they can be the toughest or the weakest out of us all."

Serina nodded and took the time to commit this to memory while the Barkeep briefly took his leave to deposit the Keg on the counter. "It's strange, he's just like a person even though he must be an NPC, theres no way a player could already own a shop. I mean, I know the devs said that the NPCs would be indistinguishable from real people, but this is kinda scary." Just as this thought passed through her head, the barkeep returned from his errand. He paused for a moment, saying "Where was I? Oh yea, just finished with the Yan, right?" Serina was going to nod but he forged ahead, saying "Then theres the Nobelle, kinda the exact opposites of the Yan."

"The Nobelle are usually a bit short-ish, or at least thats what I've been told. They aren't big on any kind of magic, not the Yan's and not like we do either with Ki, but you already know about that. Anywho, they make up for that by being really smart, and they make all kinds of tech to keep up with us and the Yan. Ya see, they fight in a few different ways. Some of em mix up some really crazy concoctions to hit with an element, like the Yan do. Others though, they fight with guns or with, umm whaddya call it, "Powered Arms" or something like that. So the Nobelle are really varied, no two are alike I don't think."

Serina nodded along to this explanation and thanked the barkeep, then asking "Oh! What did you need my help with!" The barkeep chuckled softly and said "I need some nuts for a special Alcohol I brew. Do you think you could go outside the town to hunt up some squirrels?" Serina nodded but added "Ummm, I don't have any weapons." The Barkeep chuckled again, that seemed to be his trademark, and said "I'll help ya with that. I'll give you a couple types of weapons and you decide which you like best while your out, and I'll let ya keep it, sound fair?" Serina smiled her own trademark smile and nodded, saying "Sure!" She was then taken to the back by the bartender, who pointed to a small shelf of weapons, saying "These beauties are usually given to me to pay off tabs, when they don't have cash, so they don't have any sentimental value or nothing."

With that, he selected an aging rifle and handed it to Serina, who equipped it immediately and read it's description. Outback Rifle: An aging rifle used by outdoorsmen for years. Held together by careful maintenance over the years, that doesn't mean it's effective.. She was then handed an equally aging sword, which she put in her inventory for the moment, whose description was Rusted Longsword: No doubt some old hero's weapon of choice in his last battle as a soldier, this weapon may hold sentimental value but it hold little else. It'll do it's job, but that doesn't mean it'll do it well With these weapons, she left the bar and walked outside, ready to finish her first quest as her quest marker again came up.

CHAPTER ONE: MERCHANT TO MERCHANT COMPLETED
CHAPTER TWO: THE WORLD AND IT'S PEOPLE COMPLETED
CHAPTER THREE: SMALL GAME HUNTINGIN PROGRESS

The cobblestone lined pathway hadn't changed much from five minutes ago, still submerged in a sea of brown raggedy players mostly shuffling through the opening tutorial quest, but at a glance things were beginning to seem that bit ore interesting. Maybe it was because more people were forming parties, fiddling with the HUD mechanics and laughing at how absurd it would be if this was IRL, there were even a few PCs already walking around with portions of actual clothing, catching many eyes in there general direction.

All of a sudden, as if to capitalize on his passive observation, a somewhat small girl stepped immediately out infront of him and extending her hand in a rather brash manner. She was obviously a PC, if her "uniform" of starting rags didn't make it obvious enough then her extravagantly twisted, snow-white hair would have hammered the point home, but...
"Wahh!, a small person appeared out of nowhere, by chance are you a guide fairy?" Bishop made a pleasant grin, he could figure she was probably trying to leach off of someone for quests, maybe she was at a loss for where to continue the starter quest. In an overly dramatic manner, Bishop took her hand with both of his own and replied "I see Lily, I Bishop, cannot ignore the cries of a lost maiden, come! we shall endeavor to finish this noble quest together!" and with that he continued off towards the blacksmith, half dragging the puzzled girl with him.

Not that they were far from the blacksmith anyway, in fact the girl's timing was somewhat suspicious, not in a particularly bad way though like she had scouted PCs already questing, which wasn't something he had figured out how to see, not yet anyway. Bishop addressed the same counter bound female NPC from before;
"Hello Madame, I have returned with the precious bag of nails you seems to have been lacking" "Ah! wonderful! Thank you so much for going out of your way for this village, it would be really troublesome for us to have done all the preparations ourselves this year!" She was almost as overly dramatic as Bishop, and she was AI controlled. "Ah, it was not an issue" he responded, "Now, if you could reward myself and the maiden he-" From merchant to merchant - 1/3 complete, his HUD abruptly interrupted his fun. "Aw it's a chain" he said in a solemn manner, with indifference the NPC continued, "Oh, maybe you should return to the merchant who supplied you these nails, I'm just a lowly blacksmith assistant but they're far more traveled than I am, I'm sure he'd share some useful advice with you, especially now that you've done a favor for us."

"Thanks dear, maybe we should~" and with that he turned back to his recent party member, "It seems we'll need to partake in more walking Lilz, maybe the merchant knows how we can get some clothes!, shall we be off?" not intending to start physically dragging her around again.

Before the Veni Yan in front of him could answer, Apollo heard another voice coming from his side. "You're looking for the inn, as well? I'm glad I'm not the only one a bit lost..." The feminine voice said. Apollo turned and saw another Veni Yan (this time a female), who was also carrying a crate like him. "Ahhh... Yes, I am. It's my first quest. Although, I guess it's everyone's first quest, haha." He said rather awkwardly with a chuckle. Despite being in the online world, He couldn't help but be as socially awkward as he was in real life. It was strange considering it was all a video game. He had no problems with NPC's, but now that he was interacting with multiple players, he was having trouble responding. Perhaps the realism was getting to him.

"Uh... yeah... the inn. Right. I think I passed it on the way from the carpenter's store. We can go together! You up for it?" The male Veni Yan said. Apollo nodded. "It... would be a pleasure." He said, adjusting the crate he carried as he walked behind the other player. He assumed that the female player was following them as well. "May I, perhaps know your names?" He asked both of them as they strolled along the path through the crowds.

"My name's Sar- I mean...Elizea." The female player responded, correcting herself. She seemed nice enough, and very enthusiastic if her way of speaking said anything. The male player ahead of them spoke up. "Nice name! I am Sarecyn FurLance. But you can call me Lance..." He said, faking a rich accent. Apollo smiled a bit in amusement; he seemed like a fun-loving fellow. "My name is Apollo Winter. you may call me... Whatever you wish. I don't really mind all that much." He said. He had attempted to think of a good nickname, but gave up halfway through. It wasn't a problem however, because he was fine with getting nicknamed by the people he met online. It was a way of detaching himself from his real life persona. Besides, he was already taking a liking to these people.

Eventually, they reached a building with a sign hanging in front. Lance pointed at it. "There it is, just up ahead. That's the inn." He said, approaching the building. They stopped at the front door. "Your help's appreciated, Lance." Apollo said with a smile. He then turned to Elizea, adjusting the crate in his hands again. "I suppose we should go in to turn in the quest, hm?" He asked. Turning back to Lance, he spoke. "Would you like to join us? If this quest gives any reward money, I'll gladly buy you something as a token of thanks."

"Yeah, thanks a bunch! I would chip in for something too, it's great to find a nice guy such as yourself! If either of you know how the friend system works...if there is one...we could add each other!". Elizea said cheerfully. "I don't really need any payment. But that 'friend-ing' idea sounds great! It would be awesome to start off the game with a few good pals... Heh... virtual reality is harder than it seems... maybe you can find it," Lance said

Apollo would tinker with his HUD, if his hands weren't still occupied with the box he was carrying. He was about to say it politely, when Lance spoke up. "Oh let me get the door... duh!" He said. Apollo smiled, glad to see that he had noticed their dilemma. After Lance opened the door for them, they entered the Inn.

Apollo immediately went for the human at the reception desk. "Excuse me madam, we're here to make a couple of deliveries." He said, showing the crate he carried. The woman at the desk nodded. "Thank you, young ones. Just leave them right here behind the counter." She said. He and Elizea went around back to deposit their crates. Immediately, a [QUEST COMPLETE] notification popped up on their HUDs

From Merchant to Merchant - 1/3

"It's a three-part quest huh?" Apollo thought. The woman at the reception desk spoke again. "I don't have much in the way of payment, but you seem new around here. So I'll put in a good word for you two. And I suppose I can give you some information." She said. "What sort of information?" Apollo asked. "Well, do either of you know about each other's races ?" The woman asked. Apollo thought, and decided that all he knew of the other 2 races were what the character selection said.

"You see, the three races that live around here are Human, Veni Yan, and Nobelle. Humans are people like me. We have some fairly modern technology, and he can tap into our inner powers known as 'Ki' energy. We've got the largest population out of the three. The second race is Veni Yan, like this young lady." She said, gesturing at Elizea. "Veni Yan are those who are most attuned to the natural and spiritual energy around them. They don't care much for technology and prefer using elemental magic for their tasks. The third race are the Nobelle, like this little man here." She said, now gesturing at Apollo. "Nobelles are short and can't use any magic like us. So they make up for it by using advanced technology. They don't use Mana or Ki, and rely on their gadgets and gizmos to get jobs done." She explained.

Another notification appeared on their screens:

The World and it's people - 2/3

"That was fast..." Apollo thought. The Innkeeper clasped her hands together. "Now, if you two aren't busy. I need something else taken care of. Don't worry, you'll have an actual reward this time." she sad with a chuckle. "You see, the Inn could use some fresh nuts for the festival, so I need some hunters to go out and collect nuts from nearby squirrels." She said. "It wouldn't be a problem... if we had some weapons..." Apollo replied, scratching the back of his head. The Innkeeper chuckled. "Of course. Here, I have a few things you two can use." She said. The woman turned around and opened a cabinet containing a diverse assortment of items. She picked handfuls of stuff and laid them out on the desk. "I got these as tips from adventurers way back when. Take as much as you want. Once you're done with the squirrels, I'll let you take one of them as a reward." She said.

For Apollo, he had the following selection of weapons:

Refurbished Gauntlets: An antique pair of Augmentor gauntlets once used by Nobelle Close-combat specialists. Its glory days are long gone.

Hand-Cannon: A home-made cannon. Created as a smaller, functional replica of weapons used by artillerymen. Can kill, but is impractical as an actual weapon.

Tattered Gloves: An old pair of gloves that were said to be owned by a renowned Alchemist. It still does the job, but not as powerfully as before.

Picking up the weapons, Apollo transferred them to his inventory (which was basically his backpack of items) and equipment slots. He put the gauntlets on his hands, strapped the cannon to his back, and had the gloves take up inventory space in his bag. He thought that he must've looked quite silly, being a small man carrying weapons that seemed a tad too big for him.

After the items were taken care of, he turned to Elizea. She was managing her items as well. "Since we're doing the same mission anyway, I suppose we can hunt together. Unless of course, you'd rather go alone." He said. True, she was nice. But he thought that maybe she wanted some privacy as well. That was counter-productive in an MMO, but you never know when it came to people online.

"Sure! Two sets of hands will make things go by even quicker. Speaking of which, let's get going. Who knows how many people are out there, and the respawn timers for this game might be different." She said as she went for the door. Apollo followed him, and immediately noticed something strange.

"Wait! Lance is gone." He said, looking around. The male Veni Yan was nowhere to be seen. Apollo thought it to be odd, but decided that maybe Lance had things to take care of as well. After thinking, he spoke "No point in looking for him. There's no way we'll find him now. I suppose we can just do this..." He said as he began tinkering with his HUD. After messing around on the menus for a little while, he managed to find the Friends List. "Aha! Here we go..." He thought as he typed a name to the "Add Friend" box. "Sa-re-cyn... Fur-lance" He thought as he typed it in. He then clicked the confirm button, and a notification appeared, saying the request was sent.

"We'll keep in touch with him through the friend system." He said as he turned to Elizea. "Now, we best start moving. Like you said, there could be hundreds of players already there." He said as he started jogging towards the fields. With Elizea being bigger than him, she would have no trouble keeping up, and even outrunning him.

"Yeah, for a first quest, they sure have us going all over the place. But that's half the fun, right?" Elizea said in an energized tone, trying to make the young Nobelle feel less awkward. It was pretty obvious that he was a bit uncomfortable, and that's expected. Shifting the weight of the crate around a bit, Elizea's arms were beginning to get tired...wow, that was weird. They even feel fatigue? Geez, what did this game not have?

The male Veni Yan seemed a bit perplexed, before answering their question. Wow, Elizea thought, I must have been so excited that I missed it. Did I even pass the carpenter's shop? There were too many things to think about. She readily agreed when the Veni Yan asked if they wanted to go together. So early in the game, and she had already found some friends! Maybe they weren't friends yet, more like prospects...but still! Elizea smiled and introduced herself, as they began to walk to their destination, "My name's Sar- I mean...Elizea." She caught herself, almost saying her actual name. It was all too easy to get things confused here.

"Well, pleasure to meet you, Lance." Elizea responded with a chuckle. What a fun guy. Sure, it was early, but she could totally tell. Elizea looked down a bit to the Nobelle, who identified as Apollo Winter. "It's nice to meet you, too, Apollo!" She said. The little guy was adorable! With those big eyes and that pretty crystal...Elizea shook herself out of her daydream as Lance showed them the inn. "Huh, that was quick...not a hard find, after all..." Elizea said, embarrassed she couldn't find it herself. She looked to Lance, agreeing with Apollo. "Yeah, thanks a bunch! I would chip in for something too, it's great to find a nice guy such as yourself!" She said with a warm smile. "If either of you know how the friend system works...if there is one...we could add each other!"

Elizea nodded her thanks to Lance, bounding inside after Apollo. She'd mess around with her HUD after they turned in the quest. Stepping up to the counter, Apollo seemed to take the reigns, informing the receptionist of their delivery. Elizea smiled, and placed her crate down along with Apollo's, receiving a [QUEST COMPLETE] notification. Wow, that felt good...her first que- wait, '1/3'? So it was a chain quest-type of thing? Figured...Elizea shrugged and moved back to the front of the counter with the others, as the receptionist offered the reward of information. That was definitely worth something, this early in the game.

The woman went on to inform them of the races that composed the world, nodding intently when she came to the Veni Yan. It was true, she did feel less of a compulsion to use technology here. And, if she stopped for a moment, she could feel the tingle of spirits on her skin. Such incredible sensations...Elizea listened closely to the other descriptions, wanting to learn as much as she could. She received another notification, The World and It's People: 2/3 "Neat..." Elizea said under her breath. The quests just kept coming!

It was after this explanation the receptionist informed them that they needed more nuts, collected from the local squirrels. Aww...she wants us to kill the adorable little squirrels? The Veni Yan wore a brief frown, before the woman laid out weapons. "Ooo..." Elizea marveled, excited to get the ball rolling. The options were simple enough:

Dented Ring: A chakram that's been dented and beaten. While it still has a slight edge, it's accuracy is low.

Wooden Staff: A quarterstaff made of driftwood. It's light, but it's hits definitely leave something to be desired.

Bag of Rocks: It's a bag of rocks. Nothing special here.

"Well, you gotta start somewhere..." Elizea said to herself, almost with disappointment.

Elizea equipped the weathered chakrams to her secondary weapon slot, placing them on her hips. She hooked the staff onto her back, while the bag of stones was tied to her belt. Looking over at Apollo, who was equipping his gear, Elizea smiled a bit. He looked so much smaller compared to the weapons! Of course, that was to be expected, so she didn't dwell on it too long.

The small Nobelle inquired if she would prefer going with him, considering they were on the same quest. The Veni Yan nodded briskly. "Sure! Two sets of hands will make things go by even quicker. Speaking of which, let's get going. Who knows how many people are out there, and the respawn timers for this game might be different." Elizea reasoned, before heading for the door. Apollo could surely keep up, right?

And so, they were off to the forest. It was all very exciting, so much so, that she nearly forgot about Lance. It was true that he had disappeared somewhere. Maybe he lagged out? At any rate, Elizea followed Apollo's lead, opening the Friends menu and shooting off a request to the male Veni Yan. Following the Nobelle, a giddy feeling spurred Elizea on, and off to hunt some squirrels.

People passed by either side of the trio.

Some had glimpsed over with a brief fascination, while others stared from a distance, their eyes spying cautiously as if not wanting to be caught in the act.

Most people, however, just moved on, too busy to be concerned with strangers.

The stone abomination seemed to be the only thing as still as they were, almost as if poking fun at them. It mused silently, jeering in absolute delight as it mimicked the menacing, and somewhat stoic, face planted so naturally by the giant behind her, who seemed much more embarrassed than enthralled.

How could that possibly be though?

She was a beauty hidden in plain sight.

The softest of silk...

The gentlest of velvets...

As the seconds stalled, she occasionally glanced over her shoulder at the brute behind her, curious as to whether he felt as mystified as she was, her eyes shining with the same brightness that had indicated her almost ecstatic nature previously.

Her blood rushed as she watched as the girl's hesitant fingers felt at the foreign key display before her, watched as she seemed to glow when the greeting flashed across the screen.

A simple hello, turned so wondrous. Who would've known that she would ever find silence so entertaining?

The girl before her was truly worthy to be a fairy tail princess, being as courageous as she was beautiful. Despite her initial response, the girl seemed to be surprisingly comfortable talking to two strangers.

Comfortable enough to type more than just a plain greeting.

Kanami beamed brightly as she pointed to the giant and herself.

“I'm Kanami, and this is Okami. We were wondering if you wouldn't mind...”

She paused. A visible irritation seized her as the girl failed to recall the word Ohka had used.

“...if you wouldn't mind accepting our request to...”

Excitement swelled up in the girl as she drove her fist into the large man's chest.

“...to Quest together! Please!”

A guide fairy? With a quick jerk of her head, Liliz looked behind her, trying to see if she had somehow sprouted wings during her trip from the top of the cliff to the village, but, alas, she had no butterfly wings, not even small ones. It seemed then, that, despite this 'Bishop's' rather normal appearance, he too was a gaming nerd, perhaps the type that enjoyed dabbling into a bit of roleplaying on the side. Then again, if she remembered correctly, roleplaying in this game WAS part of the whole immersion experience. Letting the older boy drag her off to the blacksmith that apparently was a quest objective, Liliz obeyed the 'Join Bishop's Party' prompt that popped up, and with that, allowed the leeching to begin. As her new party member talked to the blacksmith woman (who seemed to be swamped with nails at the moment), Liliz simply looked around again. She wasn't particularly interested in any of the backstory or lore of Threshold of Kakophonia. It was just the means to an end, after all. Who needs to know the name of some festival in some random town in order to level up? Liliz, after all, wanted to be the person who NAMED the towns.

A proper, master adventurer, exploring the depths of the unknown while fighting monsters never before seen. It was a wonderful fantasy, and for that end, she'll humor the quests for now.

Blinking back into the real world once more, as Bishop said some words she didn't catch, Liliz responded with a nod, before walking off in whatever direction, just slow enough so that she would be three steps behind him and appear like she knew where he was going, yet still letting him take the lead. Weaving through the crowd of other brown-colored players and slightly better dressed NPCs, the duo finally met with the next objective for that chain quest, a fattish looking man who had a backpack full of wares. A merchant, apparently. As she allowed her partner to handle the roleplaying again, Liliz brought out the map interface and marked that place off with a smile. Blacksmith, food stands, merchant, cheap inns, her map was slowly getting the essentials, and it felt sorta nice. Now she just needed to find the apothecary, and she'll have all the knowledge needed for her first few forays.

Zoning out of the exposition race explanations that the white-haired girl had absolutely zero interest in, as she was pretty much certain that combat for humans would just be hitting things with hard objects until they fell over and died, Liliz was rather amused when the second quest completed in a similarly fast manner, and suddenly, with a pretty flash, she found a variety of weapons in her hands.

Weathered Bronze Sword: At least it isn't made of wood.
Antique Pistol: Better pray that it doesn't explode on your face.
Spear the Gugniry: Cheap imitation of an ancient badass vampire lance.
Chopping Axe: Because tools can be weapons too.
Rock Fists: Clench rocks while punching things, and your fists become harder!

Honestly, it was too much for one girl to carry, so she just said with a smile, “Mr. Merchant, you can have all these things back. Thanks for the generous offerings, but I'll be fine with just one.”

And with that, she dumped everything onto the merchant's hands except for the Chopping Axe, before walking off. Thankfully, she had also mapped out all the known entrances and exits in the town, so getting to the fields to kill things would be easy. Or, at least, she was assuming that they were going to kill things, because why else would she suddenly get weapons?

Reading, for one, was not a favoured past time of Liliz.

“So, Bishop, let's go hunting!”

"Really?!"

Emi quickly responded after the girl and her friend stated their intentions, catching her off guard and strangely cheering her up. She stood from the wall, forgetting about the reality of being loss and concluded that the best option was to accept her offer- who knows, maybe these two were better at navigating than herself. She smiled softly, though still refusing to open her mouth as she began to type into the chat window again.

"Well I see no reason to refuse your offer, Kanami and Okami. Please call me Emi, and I'd be happy to join you on your quest."

After sending the message over, she tucked her hands into the beginner's rags looking at the two with a friendly but somewhat flustered look. In the short while they had been talking, the area had become further packed with people at an alarming rate. In a fit, she slowly walked to the two before staring at the cobblestone a few feet from the duo, kicking dust nervously as she used her newfound acquaintances to camouflage herself from the oncoming crowds. They were now a trio after all right? If you listened carefully within the loud volume of commotion, a soft sorry could be barely heard, coming from the small girl. Catching herself break this silent pact, she stood up stiffly looking at the two wide-eyed and typing quickly.

"You know where to get the first quest from, right?"

Despite their surroundings, one could certainly call Bishop and his current partner and "odd" pair, for one he stood close to twice the girl's height and that was without messing with the character height slider, but it was more than just physical appearance. They were both content with silence, but for completely different reasons, Liliz seemed to prefer it as a means of avoiding awkwardness, while Bishop was so self absorbed that the concept of embarrassment held no meaning to him. Regardless neither player did anything to dispel the short silent walk to the next chain NPC.

"Yo, Merchant man!" whom was still swampt with players, although his AI cared neither for the number of players, or the nicknames certain players decided to bestow upon him. "See, blacksmith-chan sent us back over here after she got the nails, she seems to think you can help us...get....somewhere?" He made a puzzled look, but it was all for show anyway he could say whatever he wanted at this point and get the same response. "Ah yes you people are new here after all, you must be quite lost here let me..." Bishop looked back to Liliz as he partially zoned out the exposition, unsurprisingly she was too, though bishop got the impression she had been zoned out for far longer than that, his first impression of her might have been slightly off, she was just as self absorbed as he was, only expressed it in a different manner.

Suddenly, perhaps as a reward for putting up with such a large volume of words, weapons appeared in Bishop's grasp, causing him to tune back in to the NPC "....so why don't you take a few swings at the pesks? the less nuisances the better for the night!" "Uhh" Bishop began, but just as suddenly a pop up interrupted him From merchant to merchant - 2/3 complete, next location is outside current town "Oh! thank you system~" However before he could spin back around again, Liliz stepped forwards, returning all but one of her given weapons, glancing to his own little piled and shrugged saying "Doesn't look like they're much better than junk anyway, Merchant man, please take these from me too!" He gave over all but the spear and then, too his surprise, found himself looking for the previously quite girl. She soon called out to him, having already started off towards the gate, suddenly getting a little spring to her step. "Oh, has the little fairy found something that interests her at last?" He mused aloud before following after her, unfazed by the fact that the first thing to grab the girl's attention was the notion of chopping little squirrels

Arriving at the outskirts of the forest outside town, Apollo suddenly felt a shift in the atmosphere. No, it was not something physical. It felt more like an instinct. He realized he no longer felt as laid back as he was back in the town; he was on edge and ready for action. He could feel adrenaline in his veins, and his mind racing. "Is the game designed to make you feel like this in a combat zone?" He wondered.

Before he forgot, he opened up the Party function he had spotted beforehand, and sent an invitation to Elizea. "I think we share the quest completion if we're in the same party. This should help us cut back on time and effort for collecting the nuts." Apollo explained. "I suggest we split up, but not too far from each other. That way we'll have a higher chance of finding squirrels, while at the same time be able to quickly regroup if they prove too much of a challenge. Shout if you need any help." He continued. Apollo wasn't sure how dangerous squirrels could possibly get, but seeing as they were both complete newbies, there was a chance the starter monsters could beat them (no matter how small and cute they may be). It was better safe than sorry.

After walking a little distance away, Apollo started looking around the trees for the "monsters". At the moment, he was unsure if the squirrels were taking refuge in the trees, or scurrying about on the ground. He assumed that they were on ground-level, because then it would have added fake difficulty for melee-users, but you could never know. Eventually, he managed to find one of the little critters dashing on the grass. Apollo punched his gauntlet-covered palm in preparation for the fight. "Let's see how the melee handles..." He thought.

He rushed at his target, with his right fist in the air, intending to smash the squirrel into the ground. The creature noticed it early and dodged the attack. Apollo's fist collided with the ground, causing dirt to kick up, but doing no damage. Apollo lunged and attempted another hit, but was too slow and allowed the squirrel to evade once again. "Damn, this little guy's fast!" He thought. At that moment, the squirrel launched a counter-attack, pouncing on Apollo's face and biting down with its buck-teeth. "Oww!" Apollo exclaimed, swatting it away. It did a small amount of damage from making contact with the squirrel. Feeling his left cheek, he noticed that a cut was now left there. Looking at his HUD, he saw a small part of his HP bar removed. "I don't believe this... I'm losing to a squirrel?!" He realized, shocked at his own performance.

Deciding that melee wasn't working out for him, he decided to switch over to the Cannon in his Quickswap Slot.

The Gauntlets were put away in his inventory, and he held the gun with both arms. It was a little heavy, and about 2/3 the size of Apollo. It was shaped like a regular shoulder-mounted cannon with a trigger handle and a 2nd grip meant for steadying aim, but had ironsights on the left side (presumably for the use of the gunner). It seemed like a regular cannon with a chamber and a barrel. No special qualities worth noting. The squirrel, seeing the new weapon, ran from tree to tree, taking cover wherever it could. Attempting to line up the sights while backing away from the squirrel, Apollo had difficulty finding an opening. The squirrel changed tactics and started running straight at him, and pounced into the air. Thinking fast, he squeezed the trigger, and felt the cannon recoil as sparks erupted, and the shell hit the squirrel, sending it flying backwards. "That definitely should have done damage!" He thought with a grin. He noted that there appeared to be a short timer that appeared on his weapon icon when he fired. "It seems to have a short cooldown. I suppose that means I can't rapid-fire this weapon. Makes sense, I doubt I'd be able to keep it steady if I fired multiple sots...".

The squirrel recovered from the attack and made another rush, this time doing serpentine maneuvers to avoid the cannon fire. Apollo already knew what to do; he aimed from left to right (and vice versa) as well, constantly putting the crosshairs of the sights ahead of the moving squirrel and fired, once again causing the weapon to lurch upwards. He managed to graze the squirrel with the small explosion, causing the critter to reel backwards and fall flat on the ground. While it was immobile, Apollo swiftly took aim at the center of his target, and fired. With a direct hit, the squirrel ragdoll-ed backwards, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. In the spot where it died, there were 2 Nuts.

Approaching the items, Apollo put the cannon aside and grabbed the items. They disappeared in his hands, and a notification appeared on his HUD:

Nuts Collected: 2/10

He assumed that Elizea was seeing the same thing. Happy to have made a small amount of progress, he put the cannon back on his shoulders, and proceeded to hunt more game. He decided to test out the Gloves after eliminating a couple more squirrels.

They reached the edge of town, and arrived at their destination. The forest stretched ahead of them, looking as lush and real as could be. A hum was in the air, and Elizea felt as pumped as ever. Wow....I feel great! She thought to herself, the smile that she'd worn the whole time still present.

Next to her, Apollo detailed their plan of attack as he sent a Party invite to her. A little icon appeared before her, with a little group of silhouettes. Elizea hit 'Approve', and Apollo's name was added to her HUD before fading away. The Veni Yan nodded in understanding, equipping her Quarterstaff and setting off to find their marks. Her hands gripped the staff, it's light and old wood not exactly encouraging her. For a little bit, she was having no luck finding any adorable creatures that carried nuts. One, however, decided today was the day for it to go foraging, and was scampering through the brush. It stopped abruptly and sat up to stare at Elizea.

She smiled, cocking her head to the side. "Hey, little guy. Oh, you're so adorable! Are ya out and about, getting food?" She asked in a cutesy, light voice as she slowly approached, keeping the staff behind her back. When she was close enough, Elizea quickly lashed out with the staff, but the rodent saw the staff too early, and ran out of it's path. It struck the ground hard, sending vibrations though Elizea's bones. Her hands were numbed a bit, and the squirrel took this advantage. It let out some weird call, and another squirrel flew down from one of the trees above. Landing with a thud on her head, it scratched at Elizea, making her squeal in pain. Her HP bar dropped a bit, noting the small damage the newcomer was doing.

"Get off me, ya rat!" She yelled, before shaking it off her head, and pinning it to the dirt with the staff. With a quick jab of the weapon, the squirrel disappeared into smoke, leaving behind 2 Nuts. The one who originally called for backup now charged at Elizea pouncing on her leg and delivering a sharp bite. "Y'oww!" Another squeal issued from the young woman's lips, causing her to sharply kick the creature off, and bring the staff down on it hard before it could regain balance. She delivered another swift attack, dropping 1 Nut. Gathering her spoils, the counter increased.

Nuts Gathered: 5/10

"Stupid things...can't believe I thought they were cute..." Elizea muttered, too enthralled in battle to notice Apollo's cannon fire. Though there was a bit of ringing in her ears...This realism is still so shocking... Elizea marveled, deciding to place the staff on her back and work with range to fight the remaining squirrels.

<<Windswept Plateau>>
<<Combat-Enabled Field>>
<<Level 0-15>>

Despite looking visually similar to the oasis that he had first "awoken" to, the new area that Bishop stepped out into couldn't be anymore different. While the outskirts of the town was populated by various players taking their own time getting over the wonders of the first time boot up of Kakophonia, the PCs of Plateau had but one shared goal in mind, testing out their preferred craft of death on lowlife squirrels. Every minute or so a shrill squeal resounded nearby, sometimes accompanied by a verbal pat on the back from other PCs, hopefully at finishing the quest and not for killing a meager squirrel. Bishop sighed as he scanned the field, at a glance the squirrels didn't seem to gather in any particular manner, and were faster than the standard PC movement. "This could be tedious, teaming up might not have helped here after all..."

Despite being directed towards the general area of his partner, Liliz had already powered on ahead, eager to start swinging herself, "Oh my, if only it was a shared amount we could have the fastest clear time of the quest yet" he noted before making a bee line towards the nearest prey at a much more leisurely pace. He judged the maximum range of a stab and thrust the spear towards the unsuspecting foe, only to have it jolt away at the last second, "Ah, ah", he immediately swung the spear up towards the squirrel, snagging it by the tip and evaporating it's Health bar,1 nut down. Bishop simply abused the range of his spear, feints don't exactly work on AI, but it was possible to fool it's aggro mechanic until it was too late.

“Oi, Bishop, done your kills yet? We need ten nuts per person, right?”

Looking up towards the axe wielding girl, Bishop noted the slight chink in her own HP, perhaps a fighting trait worthy of taking note, "Oh finished already? quite the brute for a fairy, just a moment" He had 8 nuts stored at the time, and he had the impression that Liliz wasn't the patient of sorts, however he was situated by a tree, and with a quick sweep at one of the lower branches he had been noting, the last two squirrels popped in minute xp, "There, wonder what kind of reward the town stocks for pest exterminators..." he chimmed as he went to group back up with her.

<<Windswept Plateau>>
<<Combat-Enabled Field>>
<<Level 0-15>>

Nuts collected: 7/10

Shattered glass was all around the area. In the center of it was a tired Apollo, with the Tattered Gloves equipped. He was tired from throwing around the elemental vials that weapon used. It was harder than the cannon due to the fact that he needed to throw with the right amount of force to land a hit, whereas with the cannon, all he had to do was aim and fire.

Deciding that the other 2 weapons weren't cut out for him, he switched back to the Cannon in his quick-swap. Immediately afterwards, he spotted a squirrel run up a nearby tree. Reflexively firing the gun, he managed to knock one of the branches off. The squirrel wasn't hit directly, but it caused it to fall off and take fall damage. After the cooldown of shot finished up, he fired one more killing blow, and collected his spoils from the puff of smoke.

Nuts collected: 8/10

It was at this moment that he unwittingly wandered into the aggro area of two other squirrels. Being attacked from two different directions caused him trouble to identify which target to deal with first. As such, instead of picking a target and blasting away, Apollo did the worst thing he could possibly do at that time: he stood still and considered his situation.

In those few seconds of contemplation, he was bitten and scratched by both squirrels, making his HP bar drop to 63% (As it was already weakened from previous battles). Feeling the numbness in the wounded area, and seeing his Health drop, Apollo decided to fallback. Thankfully, the squirrels didn't pursue him immediately, gving him enough time to think of a quick strategy: He intended to blast in the middle of the squirrels to knock them away, and then retreat as he waited for the cool down. Once they were both back on their feet, he would kite them close to each other again to land the next shot. Rinse and repeat until they were dead.

"I hope I can pull this off..."/I] he thought as he aimed the cannon at the two approaching enemies. Lining the ironsights right in the middle of them, he fired. The shot exploded dead center, knocking both of them apart. [i]"Perfect shot!" He thought happily as he retreated further back. After recovering from the blast, the squirrels gave chase again. Apollo ran in a circle around them, hoping to somehow bring them closer to each other. After only a few seconds, it worked. The Cannoneer took aim again at their middle, and blasted the final shot. The two squirrels were launched into nearby trees, and turned into smoke the moment they hit the wood.

Happy with his recovery from being taken by surprise (and failing to act immediately), he collected the last few nuts he needed and called out. "Elizea, I'm all finished here! Do you need help? Or should I just wait for you at the edge of the combat area?" He said to the female Veni Yan player in the distance. He asked before actually going to help because, while he wished to help her get it done faster, he didn't want it to seem like he was underestimating her combat abilities by not letting her finish on her own.

<<Windswept Plateau>>
<<Combat-Enabled Field>>
<<Level 0-15>>

Nuts collected: 9/10

Just a little ways away, the sounds of breaking glass filled the forest air, and Elizea had to turn and laugh a bit as the quest counter moved closer to the goal. The quest was going faster, and was even more fun, with another pair of hands helping complete the objective. She had to hand it to the developers, they made even the simple task of fighting starter monsters exciting. After taking care of his squirrels, they had 8 Nuts, and just one or two more squirrels would net them some weapons to keep and face down the hoards of the starting zone with. If they could even be called hordes anymore, what with the influx of players.

Apollo shouted and asked if she wanted any help, and Elizea gave a nod and a thumbs up. "Sure! Come on over!" She affirmed, before turning and drawing her chakram. So...how was she supposed to use it? Did it automatically come back? She hoped it would, because it'd be awfully inconvenient if it didn't. :Looking around some more, it wasn't too long before she spotted a couple of the little wood rats cuddling like they do on cartoons. Oooh, I'm gonna have fun breaking that up...

Creeping up with a sly smile, the Veni Yan turned to the Nobelle near her. "Be sure to get that one when it runs." She motioned before turning again and activating her chakram skill. With a spin of her body, she let the metal ring fly, it's beaten yet sharp edge cutting the air and curving towards the enemy. It hadn't noticed her, surprisingly, and was greeted with a sharp attack to the back, dealing a nice amount of damage. The other promptly scurried towards them, as well as the one that was hit, both looking quite angry.

Elizea stuck to attacking at a range, missing frequently due to the low accuracy and skill she had with the weapon. Before the squirrel had been vanquished, it had dealt a fair amount of scratches and damage to Elizea. "Man, that stings..." Elizea grimaced, rubbing the bites and scratches. Looking to Apollo, he too had a few knicks. Picking up the Nut her squirrel dropped, she flew to aid her Nobelle friend. Sheathing her chakram, and equipping her staff once more, she got into a position and smiled, ready to finish the quest.