---

Lew took a knee, folding an arm and wiping the kappa blood off of his wakizashi with his sleeve. Retrieving his other fallen blade and returning them both to his sheathes, Lew glanced over to Klein, who had seemed to have produced something interesting. Despite his sacrifice, it seemed he wasn't dead, either. At the same time, Lew didn't recall Klein taking any classes. Was this a special class, or did he unlock that early on? In any case, Lew took Klein's heroic sacrifice to heart, and gave the giant a nod of respect before standing up to face the rest of his allies.

Lew didn't care too much about the loot. It would have built up over time, either way. After a bit of grinding, the group would have more than enough coin to buy what they need. As for leveling up, Lew could allocate his stats later. He planned to head to town first anyway to check on his progression. Instead, Lew was more concerned about those needing to play catch-up. While they did level up, Lew knew that the allocation wasn't equal. Some of them didn't even take any jobs! As a matter of fact, one of the biggest offenders of this cardinal sin seemed to call to him to ask for one of his swords.

Lew slowly turned to Ari, giving her an ominous and very scary look. Untying the wakizashi from his daisho, he slowly approached his catty companion before grabbing her by one of the cat ears.

"You can borrow my sword after we get you a Class, first. I don't want any of us behind just yet, anyway. Lew lectured Ari, before turning to everyone else. "I'm going to head to town, get Ari a class, and maybe do some searching for any future prospects for us. I do have a few more keystone queries I want to make, anyway. If you guys want to continue grinding, feel free. We can meet up at the keystone if we're all still online when you're done, or you all can just ping me on our Discord." Finally, Lew turned to Klein. "You can join us if you want. I don't recall you taking a class either, but those new tattoos of yours and that figure that appeared us for a bit... Wait, did the game just give you a stand? Uh, disregard that. If you want to head to town and grab a Class with us in case you aren't getting any XP, feel free to. If not, send me an add over on Discord. Lew D.#1713."

Once all that talking was done, Lew dragged Ari back to town, still holding onto her ear like a parent pulling away a misbehaving child.

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)
HP:150/150 MP:200/200 SP: 50/50

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba baaaaa. First encounter was a big win all around. Well, except for Mags, he supposed. Though the big ding and glow of their level-ups and Amulak's MP restoring to full suggested to him that the ass-beating Mags had received likely wasn't permanent. A brief glance over the loot that was dropped revealed nothing good for a caster, so he'd leave that for the melee to hem and haw over.

In the meantime, Amulak spent all eight of his stat points touching up his deficiencies in STR and DEX, investing four points in each stat and bringing them up to a base of nine each. There. That should take care of his problems in that department even if he lost his talisman later.

He paused, taking a moment to cheerily wave Lew and Ari off as they went back to town before glancing to the rest. A moment to check their levels in the interface revealed that some had gotten three level-ups while...he'd only gotten one? What was this shit?! Oh, wait.

A moment of clarity later had the Slav realizing that it was probably because he'd taken a class. Hell, Mags hadn't even leveled, so more advanced classes likely took more experience to level. Something to keep in mind for later, he supposed. In the meantime...

"Grinding more sound very good. Can probably keep this rolling until we stop getting free heals from easy levels." He glanced around, his gaze finally falling on Klein and his freshly-drawn ink. Huh. "Very interesting tattoo, big man. Look very imposing." Amulak gave Klein a grin and a thumbs-up.

Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

"Eeeeehhhh...." Ari was dragged back to the town, without even having the time to look for things to make things out of. Perhaps that was for the better, since there was another thing she needed to do. Her hands still worked on the grass rope, snatching what she could from what passed her by, turning it into a good few foot of rope.

By the time they arrive back at the stone, she had fashioned the end into a ball knot, with the rounded stone ensconced within. A passing fad in her school years, called a monkey's knot or the like, usually then made out of several brightly colored string to use as a keychain or small decorations on phones and bags. What she had made however, was a weighted ball on the end of a rope. Had she a bit more time, she'd have made it longer, and made another monkey's fist at the end.

Seeing as she was already at the stone however, she sighed and entered a query about qi using classes, looking at the results before glancing back at Lew.

"Hey, I'm going to go do something before I decide on a class. Be back in a moment ok?"

It took only a moment for her to flash the peace sign and disappear into the crowd almost immediately. Now that she was here, she might as well try her hand at that request. She has seen mangas about ninjas before, most of the protags, admittedly, has had more training than her. But if she learned anything from those, its that you either do, or do not. There was no try.

aмeℓιa

_{HP: 86/110 - MP: 100/100 - SP: 100/100}
^{__________________________________}
The kappa closer to the broken up back line didn't last very much longer - well, neither monster did, but Ames wasn't focusing much on the other. Once Amulak's spell stunned it, the creature was easy pickings for the rest of them. Once it was most definitely dead, two shining lights split the warrior's attention: one, the shimmering orbs of the defeated kappa; the other, Klein on fire. It was only for a brief moment, but their newest comrade had definitely been on fire. The glowing orbs dissipated and dropped something that looks disturbingly like soiled undergarments, the sight of which drove Ames quickly away from them and towards Klein.

"Whoa! Are you okay? Did you always have those arm tattoos?" Ames' voice joined the many gathering around the much larger man. His battlefield display was truly awesome, and it seemed the whole group appreciated it. Still, as Lugh dragged Ari off, a few words said offhandedly caught Ames' ear. AP? Easy level up heals?

"Wait... did you guys level up?" The redhead blinked at the remainder of the party. "Ah, stupid question, of course you would have after that. Hmmm..." Ames did not level up, but at least it seemed she wasn't the only one. It was a bit confusing, but then again she barely contributed to the fight - or so she reasoned.

"Jeez, I wanna make at least some progress before logging off. Count me in for team grinding - but can we find those frog people instead of more duck-turtle people?" She looked further down the river back the way they'd come, where the majority of new players were congregated and probably massacring the local low level monster population. At the edge of her vision Ames caught Raime shoving a cattail into his mouth and pointedly ignored him. "How much do you guys wanna do?"

As the adrenaline faded, so too did their sense of slowed time. While some experienced the change more than others, all could feel a slight change in the movement of the grass, the blowing of the wind. It seemed as if, unless they were in combat, the time dilation that their AGI granted them wouldn’t activate. It was a small thing, though, compared to the bigger problems that cropped up. Despite his participation in battle, and despite setting up the party for everyone else, Ames hadn’t received a single point of experience from the fight…a fact that didn’t initially stand out to the others, when Ari and Klein hadn’t either.

No one was particularly worried about the discrepancy in EXP gain though, and other than Raime’s adventures with testing out local herbs, a portion of the party scattered off back to town.

The ranger’s investigations, if it could be called such, didn’t last long enough to give him any obvious hints as to what exactly was edible, what was beneficial, and what was poisonous. The wilderness corndog that was the riverside cattails tasted about as cotton-y as he would have expected it to, but the rest all had a vaguely grass-like taste, in that it didn’t taste all that great or noticeable. Some stood out from the others though; a plant with rounded, white leaves about the size of his thumb felt cool to the touch when he rubbed it against his skin. His resources were at their max, so it was unknown what numerical benefits, if any, would come of this, but it was a promising result after foraging for all of five minutes.

After all, while Raime may be satisfied with tasting unknown plants in a virtual world, the remaining members of the party were here to grind levels and get swole!

Though they lost their main tank in the form of Lugh and their only melee weapon as a result of that, the party remained fairly solid as they fought more kappas down the length of the Pearl Bloom River. Magpie’s improvised weapon proficiency meant that she wasn’t ever completely unarmed, while Klein’s Nuclei ensured that he could safely tank even without a healer present, so long as he wasn’t in a situation where he would get hit again. As his own stats increased, so did the accuracy and fire rate of Raime’s shots, while Amulak remained a bolt-slinging mage in the backline, doubtlessly outperforming the others in DPS. They set a steady rhythm as their stats increased with further level-ups, and soon enough, kappa were just fodder for them to deal with. Magpie’s sandals, Raime’s bolts, Klein’s fists, and Amulak’s magic were enough to deal with any of those turtle-wrestler-freaks that popped up from the river.

And yet, even when his own participation, his own attacks, was not insignificant, Ames still could not seem to get a single level up. As a matter of fact, the party as a whole had their grinding slowed significantly due to how the red-haired warrior didn’t receive resource refills like the rest of them, and couldn’t regenerate resources in other ways like Klein could. Ames simply had to wait for his HP to slowly crawl back up at the end of every fight, while the others waited.

What was going on? Though the warrior wasn’t completely useless as he still had his talisman-boosted stats, the gap was closing rapidly. Was this a bug? In a game famed for not having any bugs? Or was something else at play here?

As Ames mused about this, their HP just about filled up once more, the party’s path down the Pearl Bloom River brought them to the apex of a hill, from which a small waterfall crashed down. In the frothing waters, within the pounding mist, the party could make out a silhouette. Something, someone was there.

“Gero gero.”

The silhouette in the waterfalls disappeared.

Behind them, they could all hear the dripping of water.

There was a frogman standing there, green-and-black skin glistening in the light of day. It towered over even Klein, its trunk-like leg muscles thrumming with each beat of its war drum heart. Wrapped in a reed-weaved robe, it stared down at them.

“Ribbit.”

And in that moment, the party knew.

Poorly equipped as they were, flight was not an option here.
_{@Searat@Psyker Landshark@Yankee@OwO@Shovel}

---

Though his grip on her had been solid, Lugh wasn’t vigilant all the time. While he had been distracted by checking up his stats and looking through new possible classes to pick up, Ari slipped out of his grasp and was gone in the teeming masses of other kookily-designed players. Yes, he perhaps could have gone around grabbing every cat-eared girl and checking to see if it was Ari, but that would have ended up worse than Magpie causing a commotion in front of the Keystone itself.

Anyways, Horogi may be known as the hardcore PvP nation, but it was also known as the nation of the degenerates. There were furries everywhere once he started looking for them.

With that, Lugh simply struck it out solo once more, his dark hair ruffled by Zephyrus’s grace as he strode through the crowds like a shadowy snake through a grove. The area were the Keystone was served as a natural gathering point for Immortals, and subsequently, the locals had set up a large message board up there as well, plastering it with quests, mundane jobs, or advertisements. The sheer amount of text caused him to blink a couple times, but after his vision cleared, Lugh found himself able to read the foreign script as if it was English.

Some points stood out to him. Caravan escort quests to the Mora-Sho looked absolutely lucrative, compared to requests for guards of caravans heading elsewhere. Monster extermination requests were plenty, offering what seemed to be decent monetary rewards, but requested parties to check-in at the Mora-Sho Gentlemen’s Society regularly. Other requests seemed almost insane, if not for how Immortals were, indeed, immortal. Apothecaries and medicinemen wishing to test new potions and poisons on live subjects. Mysterious organizations asking for healthy blood donors with a high tolerance to pain. Crazed arts wishing for models that had nearly inhuman proportions. It was all wild, but perhaps some craziness was to be expected.

After all, this was a crazy world.

A popcorn stall was also looking for new workers.
_{@Cu Chulainn}

---

Though none of the “qi” classes appeared to be easily accessible to Ari in her current state, that didn’t deter the cat-eared girl at all from scrambling into the crowds and escaping her captor/teammate. The instructions that Fa Trung gave her for the hideout of the Tsi-Lai Gang were still fresh in her head, and with another improvised weapon in her hands, she scrambled for the location. Two blocks west of the southern gate, underneath a bridge!

The density of the amount of people in Nyu-Taro never seemed to change, no matter where one went, but the quality of the people certainly did. Whether by necessity or by aesthetic choice, the people who Ari slipped by around the southern side streets of the city-state definitely looked on the sketchy side of things, people who would scam a senior with a fake water purifier and then place a fake fly in a restaurant meal so they could bully the manager into giving them a free meal. Not murderous or violent, but assholes of a different kind.

And, like assholes wont to be, the bridge that the beggar man had mentioned before stood over a sluggish river of sewage, rotting garbage seeping down. The smell was horrendous, all wet and moldy, and just being nearby was enough to make her ears shudder in disgust. But the quest was a quest, and Ari would be remiss to give up here. She dropped down, approached the collection of crates that Fa Trung said would be hiding an entrance, and as she got close, she could hear the sounds of other human beings seeping through the cracks and gaps between the boxes.

Laughter, jazzy music, and the sounds of cards and dice being slapped on the table.

This wasn’t just a den of rogues she was planning on invading. This was a den of gambling
_@GreenGoat

Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

She licked her lips as she recalled the qi using classes. Of all the classes she'd seen, shinobi called out to her the most. Ari didn't want to pick a class so hastily after all; who knows when or if they were even allowed to change classes? Until then, she'd have to get by with only her own wits.

Wrapping the monkey's fist around her right arm, she took off her sandals, padding silently around the boxes, trying not to step in any weird puddle of filth. The smell alone was making her tail twitchy and fuzzy. The sight... well she was trying not to examine any of the filth too closely, lest her stomach overturn itself. Going slowly along the walls, she observed the area first, trying to see what lies ahead for her next course of action. Surely a deed wouldn't be too hard to find?

---

Lew clicked his tongue at the result of his inquiry. A tank class that specialized in controlling the field rather than him fighting on his own seemed more up his ally. While becoming a warrior in this game would be another feat all on its own, Lew could not deny the impact that magic had on both sides of combat during their previous encounter. It was a shame he decided to dump MP. At the very least, he could attempt to make up that deficit now with a few level ups. Speaking of which...

MP 10 -> 100
SP 80 -> 100
STR 9 -> 14
AGI 12 -> 20

Lew decided to finally allocate his points. First off, covering up his MP seemed like a must. For now, he'll leave it at a nice 100, then pour another 10 points into it later before he's about to change classes. Next was his SP, which scaled up his skill attacks up more for the time being. A few boosts to STR would help in that regard as well. Finally, a boost to AGI should help him move faster in such encounters in the future. With a mix of his already absurd END as well as his slowly ascending AGI, he should be somewhat self sufficient for the time being. Self-sufficiency is definitely important since he'll be babysitting Ari... who seemed to have disappeared. Should Lew be concerned?

Nah, they're in town. They'll definitely be safe.

In any case, Lew went on to job-searching, finding many strange requests on the aforementioned quest board. Most of the lucrative job opportunities involved the Mora-Sho, which Lew recalled was one of the factions. If he decided to choose Samurai after all, winning favor with one of the major factions would definitely be a good plan. Plus, many of these quests seem to involve exterminating monsters. Perhaps Lew could learn a thing or two from encountering the different creatures in this game, perhaps even... capture them? With Kekkaishi, that would definitely be more possible. In any case, Lew attempted to see if he could add the jobs revolving around the Mora-Sho to his tracker, either by attempting to tear out his own copy of these quests, bookmarking them, or otherwise noting them down someplace. For now, he had but one thing he wished to do...

Retracing his steps and finding himself back to the smithy where it all started, Lew approached the ogre smith, wherever she may be, holding his two blades by their sheathes and finally crumpling down into a dogeza. It was as if Lew was giving an offering to his goddess, leaving the paired swords neatly in front of himself.

"I'm sorry for returning in such a dishonorable fashion, but... Your blades have serviced me well, and I've done my best to take care of them. However, it seems my path may be deviating towards somewhere else. If it isn't too much to ask, would it be possible to trade these blades in for a singular weapon of similar quality? Do you have any pewter staffs available for use? If not, it is fine as your blades are still completely servicable, but still..."

Lew raised his head back at the NPC, his eyes filled with the same resolve he had when he had first encountered her. In truth, it was likely because he was so much more closer to judge the details of her feet.

"Whether that request can be fulfilled or not, I have come to you regardless due to your trustworthiness... Do you have directions for the Shin-Yu Temple?"

With more grinding out of the way, Mags became stronger and stronger. Even with a certain someone slowing the grind down to a much more relaxed pace, she was still able to become half-herculean. Well, that's if the stats were linear. Considering stat and item boosts, she now had the strength of five ordinary men. The kappas that once threatened her life were nothing more than walking bundles of EXP now. She'd learnt their patterns and strengths. Unless they stumbled upon a rare boss type kappa or something, she could easily turn their face into a second water bowl. Soon, she hit level 9 and allocated the last of her ability points.


She was now firmly stronger than Ames in every way. In fact, she was the strongest person in their little party. Unless Klein decided to minmax STR. Mags dipped into other stats, after all. Soon, the group approached the Pearl Bloom River waterfall. Something was there. Then it wasn't. They all got nothing personel kid'd by an oversized frogman. Of course, they couldn't keep up the grind forever. It was now do or die. Such was the life of the grinder that stumbled across a world boss. Well, if it was a world boss. Might have just been a named enemy. Resolving herself, Mags equipped the loincloth.

---

Since it appeared behind them, the only escape route that the group had was cut off. Crossing the river was a possible route to escape, but the enemy was a frog. Had it been a dry cracker, it may have actually worked as an escape route rather than an obstacle. Comparing leg strengths, there was no way in hell they were running. That meant the options were either to negotiate with a frog or to beat the shit out of it and pray it wasn't a world boss.

Well, there was always a chance it was a friendly frog. The fact that it was calmly under a waterfall until they came made her think it was a martial arts user. Well, that and the fact that it didn't use weapons. That meant that it had a martial artist's discipline, right? Unless it was one of those "I'll murder you to get stronger" martial artists, then she'd be fucked. Alternatively, it wasn't a martial artist at all. It was just a frog that liked to chill under a waterfall. With a respectful bow queue'd up, she quickly approached and became closest to the frogman. With her bow, her eyes were still locked on the frog and her powerful legs were ready to jump backwards, insuring herself from any sneak attack. Hell, she could even take her allies by the collar nearby and take them with her.

In any case, she had to size up what the frog was going to do. Whether it would attack, be friendly, or some other third thing. If it would attack, she'd do her best to jump out of the way. If it was friendly... They'd neatly part ways?

---

"Better than nothing." Raime says with a shrug as he wipes away the residue of the wild corn dog from his mouth. A handful of white herbs was better than a handful of nothing. He harvests the plants and stuffs them into his pocket before returning to his companions. They soon leave and begin killing whatever kappa they encountered along the riverside. It was a rocky start but once the group had a good flow of what to do, the turtle manlets soon became more of a passing nuisance rather than an actual threat to the group. Whatever damage they sustained was healed by the level ups that soon followed after. Raime passively allocated one point to hs HP, MP, and SP every level he gained, while splitting the remaining points between Agi and Dex. If there were any left, he'd place it to End to buff his defenses and SP regen.

It was not long after they bumped up to lvl 9 that they encountered what seemed to be their first real threat. A behemoth sized frogman that even towered over the massive Klein. There seemed no way of escape and it was a fight or die moment. Raime never realized how scary this creature was up close. Despite his actual life not being in any sort of danger from this creature, he could feel his heart hammering inside his chest, and beads of sweat begin to drip from his brow. The game actually managed to activate his instinctual response to a perceived threat. The fight, flight, or freeze response.

Stupendous. He would give the game a standing ovation if he could.

Never before in his life had he felt this level of intimidation. Not when he faced down his bullies. Not when he nearly crashed when he was learning to drive. Not even when he was face to face with a wild boar when he was out hiking. This was a new level of fear. And he was excited about feeling it. It was then and there Cacophony Concord became his #1 favorite game of all time; surpassing even his childhood favorite, Rayman Legends. He still loved the game without a doubt but it was just that no other game that made him feel this way, other than CaCo that is.

His hands gripped his crossbow so tight that it shook slightly in his grasp. Mags had offered a bow to the creature. Perhaps intending to convey the message of them being not threats, or even perhaps to lull it into a false sense of security. Only the reaction of the colossal frogman would confirm or deny his suspicions. If it were to be friendly, he would relax his grip upon his weapon. But if it were to prove itself to be aggressive, Raime would activate [Zoned In] and lodge three bolts in its chest before it could even try to harm his friends.

Though only time will tell if this would be their first boss or first friend out here in the wild.

---

---

As Ari silently stepped around the boxes, she caught a glimpse of what the boxes were obscuring: a dirty, beige curtain. If she pushed the boxes away, she would be able to enter this gambling den. But on the other hand, it wasn't exactly obvious how she could do this without notice. Further down the area beneath the bridge were just walls and puddles of filthy water, continuing along the side of the canal. Perhaps the Tsi-Lai Gang had other entrances leading to their lair, but the one that Fa Trung informed her about didn't offer any promising avenues for stealth.
_@Greengoat

---

Though they didn't appear on his quest tracker UI, perhaps due to the quest not yet being active or due to him not having met any of the possible employers yet, Lugh was certainly able to stuff a couple of the posters into his item bag before he strode off into the red-skinned oni's smithy once more. The forge was as hot as always, and so was she, the smoke of a quenched blade wafting like mist over her muscular features as she wiped the sweat off her brow with her forearm, affording Lugh a moment to see certain assets before she turned to face him properly.

"Oh, yer back. G-"

Whatever friendly discourse she had dried up when Lugh prostrated himself before her, offering up his two blades as tribute. The smile on her face faded, then turned into a frown. Not just a frown, but disdain. Her brow furrowed and her lips curled, the features only smoothing out slightly when she remembered that he was still a customer. Looking down upon the former warrior, she clicked her tongue and then raised up her foot to drop it inches away from Lugh's face. The force of the shockwave was enough to lift both blades up into the air and afford him an up-close look at her brawny feet, toe nails of impeccable size and quality, before she turned away. Three great strides brought her back to the weapons rack, where she returned the blades, and she dug through her apron's pockets to toss a bag over her shoulder. It landed right in front of Lugh's face, weighing twenty silver.

"One fight in and yer already given up the warrior's path for priesthood, huh?" She said, voice thrumming with restrained scorn. "The temple's three blocks up, to the west. Don't come back."
_{@Cu Chulainn}

---

The frogman's eyes widened at Magpie's movement, before a nigh-imperceptible smile crossed its wide, rubbery lips. Clenching one hand into a fist and forming a knife hand with the other, he placed the two together in a sign of respect, before bending his own knees as well, assuming a combat stance with his fist cocked behind like a hammer, while his open hand stretched out in front like a hammer.

If Magpie had not bowed, would this frogman had engaged anyways? There was certainly no way of knowing now.
_{@Searat@Psyker Landshark@Yankee@OwO@Shovel}

Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)
Beneath The Bridge, near a Gambling Den.

---

Her tail withered a bit at the revelation that the front entrance leads directly towards a rather populated room, instead of whatever she had imagined a hidden area would be. Gambling was it? She had played with cards before and understood how dies worked, but she wasn't any hardened gambler used to putting their life on the line. The option of bluffing her way inside wasn't the best option, but perhaps one she could try if other options failed her.

And the other options were... sneaking around for another entrance. The strange buzzing feeling from the base of her tail to the tips of her ears was intensifying, and with it the fur on her tail growing fuzzier and fuzzier. As long as she didn't have to enter the river itself...

Padding around and away from the front entrance, she started looking around for any where for an alternate entrance, paying special attention to the smaller animals and insects. Who knows, a rat might lead to a hidden entrance she overlooked.

Haha, whoops. Mags accidentally aggroed an honor bound martial artist. Good and bad parts to it. The good being that the rest of the party was likely safe. Likely being if the frog hadn't planned to kill them all, of course. They could probably return to town alive. The bad news, of course, was Mags was locked into a fight, possibly to the death. She might get out if she prostrated and made like a coward, but she wasn't a coward. No, she had a powerful thing called an ego. Something at the back of her mind that whispered "Do it, no balls. Beat up an overgrown pollywog."

Well, now was a good time to fully limit test what 53 strength, 20 agility, and 23 endurance did to someone.

"Run away or watch, I don't care," she told the rest of the party, refusing to take her eyes off of the frog. "it's time for me to duel."

Reciprocating the frogman's gesture, Mags mirrored his motion of respect and took her stance. One leg forward, fists at the ready by her forehead. Rather than wait for any sort of move from the frog, she quickly leapt for the first strike.

With all of the strength that her level ups had given her, she drove her foot deep into the ground, propelling her entire body forward. With all of the strength and weight that level 9 body of hers could muster, she threw a brutal left straight directly at the frog man's chest as she cut to its outside. More specifically, she aimed her punch at where she thought its liver was. Mags didn't actually know if her high school biology dissections carried over to biped amphibians.

If the frogman fought with fists like hammers, Mags would fight with arms like spears. Well, that was if she was in her wheelhouse. She might have been fighting with pointy twigs, if it was really a world boss.

---

Raime's eyes never left the froggy behemoth even as it returned Mag's bow. For a moment, Raime thought that they had just avoided the confrontation. That is until the creature entered a combat stance reminiscent of what the martial artists do in the old-timey kung fu flicks. There was no turning back now. Even more so when Mags had a suicidal determination to fight this creature. "Ah, for fuck's sake, Mags!" The scout managed to say before the person in question launched her attacks against the frogman martial artist. Raime gives the monster a quick bow to signify his taking part of the fight, before activating [Zoned In]. Time slowed in Raime's perspective, allowing him to take aim at what he assumed to be any creature's weak point.

The head.

With near superhuman speed, Raime let loose 4 bolts at the 'boss' creature's slimy face. Regardless of the distance between him and the frogman, he would then keep moving around the area. To both steer clear of melee range and, gain better vantage points to shoot from. If this creature really was an area boss, then at least the chances of success would increase ever so slightly now that it was two against one.

---

---

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)
HP:200/200 MP:250/250 SP: 50/50

150 HP -> 200 HP
200 MP -> 250 MP
9 STR -> 10 STR
10 AGI -> 15 AGI
10 END -> 15 END
10 LUC -> 13 LUC

A few more levels later, and Amulak smiled, starting to pump his stats across the board. He probably could have gotten away with not pumping AGI yet, but the sheer appeal of fast reaction times to a Starcraft player was too much to pass up, considering he'd have to micromanage minions eventually. For now, this was a good stepping stone. He didn't know how many levels it would take yet, but he'd start in earnest towards earning the Necromancer class as soon as he could meet those requirements.

The aspiring necromancer turned to start chatting with his party members, but stopped in his tracks at what he beheld.

“Gero gero.”

"Ribbit."

It was...was that the frog boss from Nioh? Holy shit, that thing was massive! For an instant, the player behind the avatar actually felt a measure of alarm, and god damn if that wasn't the biggest amount of praise he could give for a MMO. A world with a feeling of life and an actual sense of danger? This was exactly what he was here for.

Amulak was already firing up a Mana Control to pump his spells, even as he beheld Mags walking up and bowing to the thing like an honorable martial artist. Which...turned out to draw its aggro. Yeah, sure. That made sense. Bushido or whatever Japanese trope like most of those entire region of the map had.

Either way, as Mags engaged it, Amulak gave a barking laugh at the thought that they'd actually flee from this.

"We not running, Mags!" He cried out, starting the incantation for a Mana Control boosted Magic Bolt even as Raime fired at the frog with his crossbow. "Rest of us appreciate loot and experience too! Nioh ripoff fuck!" Amulak bellowed the last phrase as his incantation, sending his projectile flying at the frog's flank.

---

Lew kept his head low as he collected his silver pieces, avoiding eye contact as he made his way out of the ogre smit's shop. He was disappointed that he locked himself out of one route as he made his way to the Shin-Yu temple, but soon slowly began to cheer himself up once he began to think of other monstrous wives he could conquer with his new upcoming profession. After all, his knowledge of moon runes was enough for him to know that priests of Eastern traditions specialize in capturing monsters. Clearly this is just Lew naturally growing to the setting around him, anyway. One cannot grow as a man or a lover without heartbreak, after all.

Whatever awaited Lew at Shin-Yu temple, he would be open to receiving. It was his intention to devote himself to training in whatever they offered, spending his time learning while his friends spent theirs leveling. Perhaps dedicating some time there will allow him to reach the Kekkaishi class quickly, or perhaps he may learn of another profession that could also impact his party well. After all, it seems they are in need of another supporting fighter rather than a tank or damage dealer, and it seems this temple may teach Lew the ways of the priesthood. In any case, Lew believed it was best to approach this new path with an open mind.

After the first hard-fought battle which should have ended the whole team, the following fights were much easier when Amulak, Magpie, and Raymond were able to put some points in their stats. And although never a fan of sashimi or sushi due to concern over the preparation, Klein was able to consume 5 monsters raw. With half of his requirement fulfilled, he only needed to sleep in the wilderness before getting the Mountain Men class.

On another note, the nuclei were somewhat overpowered from Klein's perspective. Klein would just went in, soaked as much damage as he can then let the nuclei popped. Of course, there was some kappa that refused to attack him and chose to focus the backline instead. Luckily enough, the spear he picked up from one of the previous drops allows him to be relevant without the nuclei usage. Aside from that, he also dialed the pain percentage from 40% to a meager 5%. The value was good enough to keep him on his toes while not causing too much distraction when gruesome lacerations and muscles displacements happen.

And just as Klein about to call it a day, the team faces another boss. A martial artist frog looking boss. Judging from its appearances alone, it is definitely a boss. A raid boss, even. But with how easy these past fights had been going, Klein grew some cockiness in his spine and chose to fight, despite the obvious level difference.

"I'm good," Klein said before standing behind Mag, and launch himself after the woman as she started sprinting. Although the stats difference between the two made it difficult for Klein to be right after her, his speed was enough to be the second line of defense. The plan was simple, block for Mag, let the nuclei popped, and chiseled the boss down. Simple plan. Simple life. Easy to follow.

There wasn’t much room at all to maneuver down the narrow path, but Ari was flexible and agile enough that she didn’t have any trouble with exploring up and down the path. There were no rats that she could spot in broad daylight, however, while the ants that she saw crawling about went into crevices and cracks much too small for her to fit through. Something more promising appeared fifty meters away from the location of the hidden gambling den, however. An iron grate in the wall, four feet in height and diameter, leaked a trickle of water down into the stream before it. If she could wrestle the grate off and wasn’t feeling particularly claustrophobic, the catgirl could perhaps navigate into the tunnel system of Nyu-Taro and find herself another way into the Tsi-Lai Gang’s hideout that way?

As she entertained such thoughts, however, her human ears could pick up too, that the sound of squeaking vermin bounced through the small tunnels as well. If Cacophony Concord was the sort of word that would even count rats as monsters, she would definitely be disadvantaged, crawling through spaces so small that her min-maxed AGI/DEX build would be functionally useless.
_@Greengoat

---

Heading west, Lew forgot his heartbreak by taxing his legs instead, climbing up several flights of stairs as the layout of the city-state became far more vertical. He could see up above him several dozen superhuman individuals bounding up and down the roofs or racing upon the strings from which koi fish streamers or paper lanterns were suspended. It was the same frenetic atmosphere as the main streets of Nyu-Taro, however, there was a key difference. As he watched their movements up above, one player launched himself at a steepled building, yet landed not on the roofs, but rather upon the vertical surface of an invisible barrier that sparkled where his feet landed. He kicked off soon after, redirecting his travels southwards, but for the raven-haired Lugh, that was his first exposure to barriers in this virtual world. Not just as methods of protecting his allies, not just as methods of blocking off monsters, but as magically constructed obstacles that could be used in any manner, so long as one’s creativity was up to the task.

Three blocks later, he found himself standing in front of a squat, one story building, a stone wall doing little to deter visitors when the oaken doors were swung wide open. In the front courtyard was a Zen garden, gravel being raked into hypnotizing swirls by a bald-headed monk, while the building itself sported a bronze statue of robed man with twelve arms, each stretched out and splayed to form a knife-hand. His expression was serene as he sat cross-legged, but behind the statue, faded paper screens depicted the chaotic creation of the world, molten flame and crushing waves battling each other until the storming heavens split them apart. Further within, the chanting of dozens of acolytes could be heard, reciting mantras in a language that wasn’t translated by the system.

A few Immortals loitered about the grounds, while other fresh-faced newbies spoke to a blue-haired priestess in a long-sleeved kimono, white laced with silver threads. She stood by the offertory box, and judging by her strained expressions and the snatches of conversation Lugh heard, it definitely didn’t sound like those players were interested in any of the training offered by the Temple. Didn’t sound like they were going to go away any time soon, either.

Was Lugh a patient man though? Or was he an indulgently heroic one?
_{@Cu Chulainn}

---

Raime’s intentions were read, and the world slowed to a crawl as his Agility-enabled time dilation kicked in, every pounding droplet of water from the nearby falls visible to him. His hands moved, swift and certain, guided by the experience garnered from his fights as well as his attributes. Though Magpie was fast, his bolts were faster, four shots blasting out of his crossbow one after another. They crossed the distance to the frogman in mere moments.

And yet, in that slowed space, where even his allies moved half as fast as he did, the frogman was faster still. Snapping his head to the side, the monster pulled his knife hand back, dodging three bolts while catching the fourth. The ranger wasn’t fast enough to get a warning out; Amulak was already in the process of casting magic, and with both frontliners still rushing forwards, there once again was no one present to protect the backline.

With a flick of the wrist, the amphibious brawler redirected the bolt’s path, flinging it between Magpie and Klein to pierce right into Amulak’s mana-weaving hand. The force was tremendous, knocking his hand back and his Magic Bolt off-course as 27 points of damage was dealt. A numb pain pulsated in Amulak’s right hand, but more troubling was the fact that he seemed to have lost some of the functionality in his hand as a result. His fingers no longer responded to his commands so easily, and he couldn’t clench it at all.

The frog tightened his lips in the facsimile of a human smile, before springing to meet Magpie’s advance, left foot propelling him while the right foot slammed into her swinging fist, inflicting 22 points of damage. The shock ran through her entire body, but the brawler wouldn’t be repelled by such a kick, holding her ground. She had grown stronger. Her physical might was the greatest of them all. She could arm wrestle five men at once and come out ahead!

That same tremendous might, however, meant that her arm didn’t sway at all when the webbed foot gripped onto her fist and used it as a stepping stone. The frogman vaulted into the air, a dark silhouette against the sun. Klein could only watch as the monster flew over the second defensive line, straight towards Raime. The hammer fist, cocked back this entire time, finally surged forwards, a fiery light bursting from it as the frogman descended upon the ranger who had isolated himself from the party whilst repositioning.

If the blow landed, the results would be devastating.
_{@Searat@Psyker Landshark@Yankee@OwO@Shovel}

Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)
Beneath The Bridge, near a Gambling Den, Sewer System.

---

It seemed the only real way of getting in was a sewer grate almost as tall as she was. Was it the best way in? Were there any other more desirable entrance? Ari didn't even think about it, already feeling that rush of accomplishment at finding something like this by herself. Almost enough to make her churling stomach worth the segue here.

The grate was in the way however, and she wasn't exactly the incarnation of Ares or even just a super buff Batman to just pull it off like that. But perhaps if she focused her efforts...

Using her dexterity and agility, she grabbed the top bar of the grate, near one of the fastenings, jumped and spun around, kicking off the wall. Using her legs, weight and gravity, hopefully she can pop the thing open.

---

Raime's eyes widened as the frogman not only dodged the quarrel of bolts. He even managed to utilize it against them! He can only wince as the bolt was thrown back straight into Amulak's outstretched arm. This wasn't a unique mook, this was a boss outright judging by how easily it dealt with multiple attackers in one instance. Twelve dozen thoughts went in and out of his mind as he tried to formulate another approach to the encounter when something large suddenly blocked his sun. Raime's eyes darted upward to see the massive frogman with his fist apparently igniting from whatever technique the froggy martial artist was employing in the strike. There wasn't even a second for him to think about anything else as he lept sidelong from the attack.

---

---

aмeℓιa

_{HP: 110/110 - MP: 100/100 - SP: 100/100}
^{__________________________________}
Fighting through more kappas was the exact opposite of what Ames wanted to do, but it was still fun now that they all got into the groove of battle. Leveling up and watching the party get stronger bit by bit was pretty cool. Except.

Why the hell am I still level one??

As the group continued on, it was clear that Ames was getting more and more desperate. Their attacks were quick and clumsy, and she'd jump in front of everyone to deliver the final blow to as many enemies as she could, but the pitiful damage she was doing only last so long. By the time they all came upon a small waterfall, Ames was pouting but stubbornly refusing to cry about it.

It was a near thing though.

So far CaCo has been a lot of highs and lows. Well, not lows per se... the graphics were incredible, and it really felt like she was present in this manufactured fantasy world. Seeing all the characters, including those of her own party, was really interesting. Even moving her own body was fun, the novelty not yet worn off. All of the "lows" really weren't that bad in comparison. Some of them even stemmed from her own actions, so she couldn't really blame the game for it.

BUT WHY AM I STILL LEVEL ONE??

Ames let out a deep sigh, lost in thought, before promptly bumping into the person ahead of her. "Huh? Why'd we stop?" She peered around the bodies of her friends, trying to get a glimpse of whatever obstacle was in the way. The croak from the opposite direction drew her attention, and there stood a massive frogman. The red haired warrior actually had the audacity to think finally, a frog guy, before Magpie and the frog took battle stances. This thing was big, but surely it wouldn't stand a chance against the entire group at once. Or at least, the entire group minus Ames. If this is gonna be a pattern I should invest in some support skills.

Then, everyone moved all at once. Everyone present was much quicker to act than Ames, even if she was still pretty speedy herself, and by the time she got her bearings the frogman had attacked. "Holy crap!"

Ames wasn't exactly keen on being the first one to find out what happened when you died in the game, but she was fairly sure if that thing struck her she'd be doing just that. Then again if she did nothing she'd feel like a major jerk given the trouble the frog was already giving them. If if she could only deal one point of damage, that was one point closer to the creature's defeat, right? As the frogman advanced on Raime, Ames ran to it and used the momentum to throw a high kick at the monster's head.