Erika bounced around the area, cutting through the small kobolds as she rushed towards the kobold lord. She matched the speed at which the two Chinese women proceeded towards the monster. She watched as arrows zipped through the kobold lord and she grinned as they hit. Her grin faltered when the flesh began to grow back as if nothing happened. Regeneration, was it? That's... not good. She only had a dagger with her but if they could find a weak spot-

The archer called for all of them to attack together. It was then followed up by the dude with the two companions calling out that the kobold lord being frozen would increase their damage output. She quickly rushed forward - ahead of the two Chinese women and circled around the kobold lord who was being pelted with arrows. The enemy became frozen soon enough after a couple of hits from the mage.

One aimed for the heart. Another aimed for the head.

Leave something for someone with a dagger... She thought harmlessly to herself as she leaped onto the kobold lord's shoulder and driving her dagger into the kobold's body alongside the other two. She ducked her head so that she wouldn't get hit by the chord woman's strike and get decapitated alongside the kobold lord. That was the last thing she wanted to happen.

Ren watched in awe at the flurry of attacks the other kids has started to throw at the Kobold Lord.

The two Asian girls lead the charge, each taking turns in landing a direct hit at the monster. The kid with weird puppets started to cast ice magic at it, encasing the Kobold Lord in a gigantic sheet of ice, making the monster unable to move. The girl with the dagger, on the other hand, started to make her way towards the Kobold Lord's back waiting for an opportunity to strike.

"At this point, it's regenerating ability should have a hard time keeping up with the damage it's taking." Ren thought, sending one arrow towards a Kobold Underling charging towards the puppet guy, the arrow connected, which immediately killed the target, "Damn, I'm not bad at this either." He thought, feeling a little proud of his skills.

"Trigger Slash!" Shouted the old Knight right beside Ren. A bluish light suddenly shot from the Knight's sword, cutting 3 Kobold Underlings in front of him. "Focus now, lad! You don't want to get bitten by any of these buggers!"

"U-um, y-yes sir!" Ren's completely forgotten about him. The old Knight looked battered. His once shiny armour, now covered in dirt and blood, he even lost his helmet.

Ren noticed all the injured Knights are now huddled together in one place, and around them are piles of dead Kobold bodies. "Did he do all this by himself?" Ren thought admiring the old Knight's work, "He's been protecting the injured ones all this time." For some reason, Ren's first opinion about the Knight is starting to change.



The remaining Knights that can fight has flocked over to the 2 foreigners who lead the charge of the attack. The Knight with a huge shield took the vanguard while the Priestess supporting the rear.

"Shields! Divert its attention from the Casters!" Shouted the Knight, raising his shield at the ready. "Support the foreigners at all cost!" The remaining Casters fall in line behind the Knights and started to chant.

"Lesser Blessing!"

"Lesser Protection Energy!"

"Arcana Boost!"

"Mana Essence!"

"Penetrate Up!"

"Lesser Acceleration!"

"Lesser Healing!"

Each kid glowed a different colour at the mention of the spells, each raising their stats one after the other. Once the Caster's done with the support spells, they started chanting offensive spells directed at the monster. A wide volley of spells began to fill the sky — ice, fire, water, light, and more others.



Ren felt his body respond to the spells that were casted on him. He can feel a new surge of energy welling within him, a tingling feeling right in his stomach. He can feel his strength and speed increased by a fraction, his senses heightened, everything from a mile away seems so much clearer.

"So this is a buff spell, huh? Alright, let's try this." Ren took an arrow from his quiver. He can almost feel every fiber in the bow string tighten as he pulled, and for some reason Ren can tell which way the wind is blowing, and how strong it is. He is more focused now.

"The chest. Right where the heart is." Ren breathed slowly. It almost seems like he gained binoculars with x-ray vision, he can clearly pinpoint where the monster's vital points are from the distance. "And then... Shoot."

With a loud 'ffwisssh", the arrow sailed through the air with so much force it left a streak of black line mid-air, ravaging everything it passes through. After a heart beat, the arrow connected to its target with a loud crack. It pierced right through the Kobold Lord's chest, leaving a gapping hole from where it hit.

The others started to do the same — direct hit towards the chest and the head. At this point, there was no time to regenerate its lost parts. The Kobold Lord let out a final howl of despair, shuddered and then fell face first into the ground.

The Knights all cheered in excitement, even those injured ones. Ren heard the old Knight say thanks to the gods, and then gave Ren a reapproving smile.

"It's finally over?" Ren asked out loud, the thought of them defeating a monster, much less a boss level, hasnt sinked in yet.

"Indeed, lad. Indeed." The old Knight reassured him.

Sam collapsed onto his butt as he watched the Kobold Lord meet his end. All around, the kobolds were fleeing like headless chickens as their leader was now gone. He felt winded by the exertion, like he had just ran a marathon. Yet, as he sat there he could already feel the warm chill reterning to him. Around him, he watched the others as they reacted to the death of the monster. Lust would definitely object to them bismirching the good name of wolves... if she wasn't stalking Wrath or trying to trottle Greed.

You have gained enough experience to level up

Golemancy has reached level 2

Unlocked Spell: Mending

Cryomancy has reached level 2

And again, that strange voice from nowhere is telling him random stuff. Weird.

---

Greed grinned as he stabbed the last brave kobold attacking him, and turned around to Wrath.

"Man, that fight was hard. I almost broke a sweat there."

Wrath said nothing. His left eye socket had a crude knife stuck in it, his body was covered in wounds, and he was bathed in the blood and brain matter of more than a dozen kobolds. Greed seemed not to notice this or Wrath's rising anger as he continued;

"You know you should really put more effort in, like me."

Everyone within earshot could hear a snapping sound. Wrath's remaining eye began to glow with an azure light as his anger reached it's inevitable climax. From behind his back he pulled, not a stick, but a holy hammer decorated in the style of the goddess.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH, I'LL KILL YOU!" the extremely angry puppet yelled ashe began to chase the fox with the hammer. Greed, having survival instincts greater than your average shounen protagonist, booked it.

"Save me Goddess!" he cried.

"GET BACK HERE AND SUFFER DIVINE RETRIBUTION!!!"

Level up! You have reached Level 10!

All Weapon Mastery has reached Level 10!

Martial Intuition has reached Level 4!

New Skill 'One Hit Kill' acquired!

As Ying Yue cleaved through the dogman's neck, a barrage of noises sudden rang through her head, causing her to flinch slightly. What was truly uncanny was that she understood all those words, and yet still couldn't make sense of it. Her body, thankfully, informed her more about her current capabilities. Rather than being more tired, she felt energized from the defeat of the monster, even stronger than before. So strong, even, that the head that she had cleaved off the beast's shoulder was still spinning in the air, having flown a full fifty meters up into the air once she had struck it. Watching its arc and determining its destination, Ying Yue raised her brows very slightly at the pale-skinned woman who stood right at it. She pointed up, the only warning that Erika would have about the massive kobold head that was about to fall on her own head, before gingerly hopping off the frost-covered corpse of the dogman. The stint with killing all these evil spirits and realizing just how powerful she was had done wonders to her mood. If things kept up, maybe the dead man won't die after all. Maybe.

Those wooden creatures scrambling about the battlefield though, causing no small amount of ruckus? They were less charming than a grumpy old man who was willing to put his own life on the line for the sake of his younger subordinates, and the dogman's tomahawk wasn't all that interesting after all. With a casual flick of her hand, she hurled the massive weapon towards Wrath, the steel blur bisecting the creature length-wise and cratering into the ground. Ying Yue's gaze settled onto the one that had been running away and she placed her finger on her lips. Puppets were best off quiet, after all.

Though that hammer...wonder what I could do with that?

---

An onslaught of chiming voices rang in her head, more nonsense about levels and skills. Ignoring them was a struggle. The methodical and steady precession of strikes kept the distracting thoughts at bay. Every ounce of her anxiety had been buried beneath a savage rhythm.

Slash. Cleave. Reverse. Slash. Backstep. Lunge. Repeat.

Each stroke was heavy and bit deep into Kobold Lord, peeling back flesh and carving into bone. Frozen gore shattered under her strength and bloodied flecks of ice clung to her skin and tattered clothes. Magic power strengthened her swing as she backhanded and kicked away any kobold still suicidal enough to approach her. In less than a minute, the monstrous leader had been defeated.

When Zhao finally paused to take stock of the battlefield around her, she realized the casualties were grave. Her grip on her sword loosened as she felt the tension leave her body. Her skin felt warm, wet. She looked down and noticed dark stains of bloody ichor had melted into her ceremonial dress. Disgust pulled her lips into a scowl, and she let out a tired sigh.

She saw many of the knights were dead or injured, many wearing a hollow expression she was uncomfortably familiar with. Her chest felt heavy seeing them.

Looking around, she didn't see the young boy from before (@Sedjwick)."He's gone?" She dashed towards one of the healers nearby. "Excuse me, doctor? Have you seen the young boy who was traveling with us? Is he injured?"

Having been concentrating on her spell, the priestess was taken aback at first, and offered Zhao a bewildered look. After a brief, but awkward silence she eventually stammered out a reply. "Uh... No, I haven't seen him at all. He's not among the dead, I know that." She added.

Worry creased her brow as Zhao stared at the nearby treeline. "I hope he's safe..." She said. The disappointment in her voice was obvious.

The priestess nodded and force a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "We'll do our best to find him." Her hands glowed softly as she returned to healing the fallen knight.

A stream if brilliant color stole Zhao's attention. She looked in amazement as faint, shimmering blue light radiated from the priestess' hands and flowed through the knight like a drops of dye being carried along by a river's current. Tendrils of black miasma curled away from him as a light within the core of his body began to shine brighter.

"What is that?"

"Hunh? what are you talking about? Actually, nevermind. I'm trying to concentrate, so please step away." The priestess said irritably.

Although she knew she hadn't seen anything like this before, questions piled up endlessly and tied her tongue. She stared dumbly at the spectacle, a pale glow in her eyes as she briefly wondered why the healer didn't take notice.

She looked around, noticing the same blue flame burning inside each person. Some dimmer or brighter than others. She shut her eyes hard, confused and flustered, but when she opened them again the ethereal blue energies were nowhere to be seen.

She shook her head, and composed herself, remembering that none of them were safe quite yet. She marched toward the old knight. "Now that the battle is over, Sir Knight,do you still intend to arrest us as spies? If you allow everyone to regroup and rest first, I doubt you'll hear a word of complaint." She nodded towards the wounded knights littering the ground nearby.

Dagger Mastery has reached Level 7!

Acrobatics Level 1 acquired!

Erika wasn't sure if it was the surge of buffs that the knights had given them or if it was their own capabilities or if it was both, but the kobold leader fell - the area where his heart should be was completely eradicated and the blades of both her and Zhao had been the thing that was visible in the area. It was then that Ying Yue had pointed up and she turned her sight upwards did she see the flying - falling - head of the kobold lord. She hoisted herself up and placed both feet on the back of the kobold lord's carcass, silently noting that normally she wouldn't have been able to do such a thing - and pushed herself off along with her dagger. She rolled on the ground and let out a sigh as the head landed from where she had been perching on.

Acrobatics has reached level 5!

The boss was thoroughly dead and Erika couldn't believe that they had done such a thing. It was an awkward mix of effort between all of them and their teamwork certainly could be improved upon but it was exhilarating. The power of the two women before her was overwhelming and she was staring at them with absolute wonder.

There was also the archer and the mage - speaking of which, it looked like Ying Yue had cleaved through one of the puppets and Erika was about to say something but decided to hold back.

Erika walked over to the kobold lord wondering if this world made it so that they dropped items of sorts. As she edged closer, the voice inside her head began to ring again.

Gluttony Level 1 Acquired!

She creased her eyebrows. What did it mean by Gluttony? She inched closer to the carcass, poking it and it felt like she was opening up a menu as the voice chimed in again.

Activate Gluttony skill? Consume the [Kobold Lord] to gain stats!

Erika's nose scrunched up in disgust. She had to... eat the kobold lord to get stats? That sounded absolutely horrid and she wondered what sort of luck she pulled to be in this sort of situation. Sure, she had eaten a lot of exotic stuff over her years of traveling. Her parents insisted on letting her try anything and everything. She had eaten a lot of raw food and even grubs before. It was a normal thing in the Wayne household whenever they traveled, but it just felt wrong to just... eat something that had just tried to kill everyone a few seconds before.

She twirled the dagger around her fingers and stabbed it into the carcass. She carved out a piece of its meat and looked at it with a glare and then took a bite. It was... not as bad as she originally thought but it wasn't good either. By the whoever that goddess was again, if she had to do this over and over again...

No stat ups.

"Kaireth, why did you do this to me..." She cut up another part, her back at the others so they didn't quite see what she was doing.

Milo Thomas

Milo was running as fast as "Run Away Level 1" could carry him, though he wasn't truly sure what it did or how it did it. If he thought to examine what was happening while this skill was active, he would realize that he was not only running faster than normal, but he was also stepping around and over obstacles that he didn't even notice existed. But he was too busy running away to take note of this. If this had been London, and if Milo were running from someone who meant him harm, he would have darted down the nearest side street, slipped down an alley and quickly lose his pursuer in the labyrinthine paths of the ancient city. Unfortunately for Milo, there were no side streets or alleys out here that he could slip down, nor was this London where he knew just about every twist and turn so well he could slip away practically with his eyes closed; to escape the pursuing kobolds, he just had to keep running out in the open and hope to outpace them.

As he was running, he heard a howl of despair. Milo stopped and turned toward the sound. He had left the battle far behind, and his small stature granted him no favors in being able to see what was going on over such a distance, but he did see something shoot up and then fall back down in the distance. Milo couldn't tell for sure, but he thought it might have looked like a head? Maybe that woman who had been cutting off the heads of kobolds with that red rope had done the same to the Kobold Lord?

As Milo considered these things, he took stock of his surroundings once more. He seemed to be utterly alone. The kobolds that had been chasing him, the reason he had been running in the first place, were nowhere to be seen. Had he actually lost them? Or had they fled when their leader fell? Or were they just too far away for Milo to see and would appear again to attack him before long? Milo wasn't sure which scenario was true, but if they were just going to show up again soon enough, Milo didn't want to hasten the encounter by running back in the very direction that he had left the monsters behind. And now that the adrenaline was wearing off, Milo realized how tired he was from the running, not to mention still hungry, having not eaten anything since waking up in this strange world. Luckily for him, the other strangers were taller than him, and thus able to see farther in this vast, flat expanse, so as long as Milo stayed above the top of the grass, he should have a chance of being found. But Milo had no idea how much distance he had covered in his run, or how far away from the others he truly was. Still, he was lost, and he didn't want to risk running into those kobolds that he had been running from again, so he would just have to wait to be found. He just hoped that whatever found him first was friendly. He didn't want to have to run away again.

The old Knight looked rather sullen, "I regret how I treated you." He began to say, sounding a little hurt. "If it weren't for you my men would've all been..." The Knight shook his head as if to dismiss a thought. He composed himself for a second, sheathed his sword and started to approach the foreigners.

"As painful it is to admit, we wouldn't be able to defeat that monster if it's just us." The old Knight looked at the Kobold Lord's mangled body with disgust, "With that, you have my thanks." All the other Knights murmured their own thanks right after.

When everyone has quiet down, the old Knight began to say, "Be that as it may, I have my reasons why I acted so harshly. Since the emergence of Catastrophes, the Empire has been on guard of anything that could further harm its citizens. And with you suddenly appearing out of nowhere, don't you think it's only natural for us to be suspicious?"

Ren noticed some women in the Knight's ranks made that complicated hand gesture again at the mention of Catastrophes. He made a mental note to ask them about it later.

"I'm asking you this as our saviours, please come with us to our camp so we can offer you a proper thanks. Allow us to do at least just that to save what's left of our pride as Knights." The old Knight implored.



The remaining Kobold pack began to retreat as soon as their leader was killed. Ren guessed if this world follows the typical RPG rules, those wolf creature will be back after some time, maybe once their leader has respawned, or another event triggers it.

You reached Level 10!

Bow Mastery reached Level 5!

Appraisal Skill reached Level 2!

New skill "Double Strafe" acquired!

New skill "Eagle Eye" acquired!

"Right, we just killed a boss levelled monster after all. It's only natural that we gained some experience from it." Ren thought as he reads through his stats, "Looks like I've gained some new skills too. Huh? What's this?" Ren noticed his Luck stat gained 5000 points while all other stats remains the same.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Ren thought, very disappointed at his own growth. Ironically, his figurative luck must've sucked so bad to land him in this situation. "Hold on, if stats affects everything in this world, maybe this isn't so bad after all."

Ren tried to think back about how luck applies to most RPGs he's played so far. Generally, luck affects chances. The higher the luck, the higher the probability of the outcome to be in his favour. Ren could think of several things in which this could be an advantage, but most of it involves talking to a lot of people. Another irony.

"Well, there must be something I can use it that I'm actually good at." Rent thought, considering his current skills. "Hmmm? Now that I think of it, I haven't used this skill yet."

"Would you like to use Online Shop?"

"Yes." Ren answered in his mind.

"Online Shop activated!"

A huge panel appeared in front of him, much complex than the usual character stats panel when he used the Appraisal skill. It contains all sorts of items categorized into tabs — Food, Home, Electronics, Survival, and "Deals". There seem to be more tabs as he scrolled down but is currently greyed out and inaccessible. "Maybe I'll be able to open them once this skill levels up." Ren surmised, "But the items here looks fairly basic if I were in the real world."

Ren checked each tab, scrolling through the items in it. Sure enough, he found items like sugar, salt, pepper, soap, a portable stove, several cooking utensils, alarm clock, rope, and a couple more others that don't seem to be useful at the moment. What he found interesting though is the Deals tab, currently there are 3 items in it:

"Would you like to purchase an item?"

Ren reached out to his pockets and found a couple of bills in Japanese Yen. "I wonder if this will work though." Ren tapped the item, and then a slot appeared that says "Drop Payment Here." He tried to drop the bills, but the money just slid past it, "I guess not."



"This must be the reward system kicking in. We just completed an impossible quest after all." Ren thought. With the old Knight's sudden change of heart towards them, Ren decided to just let the course of event to do its own thing.

"Um, I do have a question though." Ren raised a hand as if he's inside a classroom getting his professor's attention, "What are we do to with all of these dead bodies? Is it safe to just leave these things lying around here?"

The old Knight motioned to his men, "The lad is right, we can't just leave these things in here. Gather everything and transport it to our encampment. We could use whatever materials we can get from the monsters, and for the dead ones... We can at least do a proper burial for them."

The remaining Knights who can move started to gather the monster carcasses, some carried it manually, some made it float in mid-air, all gathering them in one place.

"Well, if you don't have any more objection, we must be off then." The old Knight said, nodding towards the Casters. They began to chant for a moment, and then several orbs of light suddenly appear in thin air, "If you could please step into these lights, this should transport us to our camp. But if it makes you uneasy, I'll go ahead first. I'll see you all in the other side." With that, the old Knight step into the nearest light and then vanished.

Greed turned around to see Wrath sliced in twain by that she-devil. He ran over to his friend and started crying. Sad music began to play in the background as he cried beside his companion.

"No, by the gods, it cannot be." Greed lamented, as he cradled his companion, "Woe is me, for now who will I have in my double act? Our ratings will plumet without my patsy!"

Surprisingly, Wrath opened one of his eyes. "...The moment I get my body back together... you're so dead..." he growled, speaking in a strange stereo due to his two mouths.

"He's alive!" Greed cheered in joy, swinging Wrath's parts around, "Sam, Wrath's alive! You don't need a new puppet!"

Due to your overwhelming magical powers you have gained the skill: Cartoon Logic level 1

Sam sweatdropped at that latest notification. Definitely explained the random instruments that had appeared next to him that were playing some sad tune. Looking over to Greed, he saw that Wrath had been turned into two Wrath-Halves. 'Thank the goddess for the mending skill.'

Walking over, he draw forth the energy that felt like clockwork inside him. Not sure how he knew what clockwork felt like but at the moment he didnt care. Placing his hand on Wrath he whispered: "Mending."

Wrath was coated in a golden glow as his halves snapped back together and all the damage from the previous encounter was repaired. Sam was kind of shocked, he wasn't expecting it to be that effective.

Hearing the knight captain give out the orders to move towards the glowing orbs, he herded his two companions there, not wanting to be left behind like some poor scrub...

She had to admit. She had not been expecting to eat so fast. It was like her body was on automatic as she cut and consumed the meat. She had already eaten three by the time she thought of eating one and Erika idly wondered if this was part of the skill or if she just that hungry. But no matter how much she had eaten - and she was pretty sure that she had eaten a lot of the Kobold Lord if the fact that it seemed like vultures had already pecked the inside clean - she didn't feel like she was full. And it just clicked in her head - Gluttony, of course. Was this really some hero's ability that Kaireth had provided her or was it just some split second thought that the goddess had and said, hey it'll be interesting to give a human that, and just zapped her with this ability?

Erika hummed as there was a chime in her head and she pulled her arms back, a piece of the kobold lord meat still hanging off from her dagger as she rested her arms on her knees.

[Kobold Lord] successfully consumed! Gluttony Skill has reached Level 2!

She leaned back a bit as the voice listed off the values of her current stats and what the Kobold Lord had added. Honestly, there actually weren't a lot of numbers poured into her but she guessed that if she consumed every single kobold they had beaten up - it would amount to... something better. Erika made a cursory glance to the dead monsters and shivered to herself. Maybe it would be better if she cooked some of them but that would also take too long and who knows how fast their group had to move and-

If she was going to stick with these people, she'd have to... explain this, huh?

If there was one person who would be open to this kind of conversation about skills, it would be the archer, right? As far as she could tell, he was the only other person to wear something that was within their century - unless everyone else was just very traditional in their own rights. Maybe she could get the guy to look at her skill to give a more proper explanation than just - 'consume this monster for stats!'.

She felt a presence behind her and she bent backward to look at two knights towering over her. "Hi...?" She started unsurely as the two knights looked at her with equal amounts of shock and wonder. It took a moment to register that yes, the Kobold Lord looked half-eaten and that yes, Erika was still holding the dagger with said kobold lord's meat on it. Right. Erika looked at the piece of raw meat on her dagger and flicked it back into the nearly empty abdomen of the kobold lord. "Needed him for something?"

The seemingly younger knight was stuttering as he spoke. "Y-Yes, um, the Captain called to haul all the monsters and bodies back. F-For either burial o-or to use as material."

It was probably equated to getting loot in the game world. She was kind of disappointed to not just see random items springing up out of nowhere after defeating a boss. "Oh, sure. Feel free." Erika leaned closer to the carcass and wiped the blood off of her dagger and then sprung up to her feet. She stood to the side and the two knights looked at each other first before picking up the kobold lord and hauling it back to the circles.

Erika bounded towards the archer, giving him a small pat as she slid her dagger into its holster. "Hey, good job out there. Your arrow just blasted through that guy!" She cheered with a nod of approval. "Name's Erika Wayne by the way. How about you?" If she was going to stick around with these people, she figured she should at least be familiar with their names. Which reminded her, she needed to know others too. But that was best put off later.

"And, also, I need to talk to you about this one skill I have. I wanted to ask if you could check it out? It's the... er, Gluttony skill..."

---

Cool winds blew down from the mountain, a calming breeze as Zhao regarded the old knight with a tired stare, the kind of expressionless gaze she always used when dealing with troublesome people. She didn't dislike these knights, and even if they were no longer suspicious of her and the others, she was still suspicious of them. Serving in her father's army gave her a window into their mind. She sympathized with them. Who wouldn't be on edge if they had to regularly contend with monsters like the Kobold Lord. But somehow... hearing thanks and praise didn't improve her mood. It was obvious the knight captain was being earnest, but as he stumbled through his apology, her gaze wandered. Many of the knights were busy moving bodies, and chanting prayers. The reality of how many died began to sink in. Pity and despair twisted inside her, forming a dense pit in her stomach. She didn't know any of them, but she felt terrible all the same. What a waste...

She drew in a quiet breath, composing herself, and addressed the old knight with as much courtesy as she could muster. "You acted with integrity and courage in the face of terrible danger, and for that you have my respect. We may be strangers still, but as it is my hope we can continue as allies." She said with a slight bow. "Your kind words and hospitality are appreciated, but there still work for me to do here. Please excuse me."

Zhao turned on her heel as the knight vanished into a sliver of light. So much had happened it was enough to make anyone's head spin. She could feel the tension building into a headache. Nevertheless, she had made a promise to that child and she intended to keep it. Her feet carried to the center of the field where they had all appeared and she looked around for signs of the boy, but it was near impossible to find anything in the tall grass. She heaved a sigh and stared listlessly at the heavens, praying silently for guidance. The blue sky loomed above, and floating among the clouds was great hawk.

"Ah..." Higher ground provided many advantages, she remembered, perhaps she could find him more easily that way. However, gently sloping hills surrounded her in every direction. Her heart sank, when she realized a way to solve it. Memories of her father speaking of the Tao came rushing in. She could hear her father's voice saying 'Mastering yourself is the path to true power'. She scowled at the hawk with bitter resignation.

With a groan, Zhao widened her stance and lowered into a crouch, building power in her legs as she had done before. Her heart hammered in her chest. Be still, she told herself repeatedly. The ground cratered beneath her as she flew into the air. When she reached the apex of her jump, she ventured a look down and noticed the hawk was only a few meters away. Her fear of heights struck fast and hard, like an anvil against her chest. She let out a small cry and gulped hard as she began to plummet back down. Her eyes frantically scanned the nearby hills, using her fear to focus and look for any sign of the boy.

"There!"

Several hilltops away, she could see kobolds fleeting a small, shaggy-haired person standing in the tall grass. That had to be him, she thought as she braced for impact. The landing was hard and unpleasant. She skidded to halt as her feet dug trenches into the hillside and threw a cloud of dirt into the air. She drew in a few long breaths to calm herself and took a few awkward steps. Her legs felt stiff and her knees ached. She worked through the pain and started sprinting in the boy's direction, all the while dreading the thought of having do anything like that again.

"New skill 'Fear Resistance level 1' acquired!"

"Fear resistance? What a cheeky Goddess..." She thought.

After cresting a tall hill, she found him walking aimlessly amidst the grass, and rushed to him. "Are you hurt?" She asked, somewhat out of breath, and inspected him from head to toe. Her expression softened once she realized he didn't have an obvious injuries. "It was wrong of me to leave you behind. I didn't realize those knights wouldn't be able to keep you safe. On my honor as Princess Zhao of Pingyang, I swear to protect you, so please come back to camp with me." She paused for a moment. "Although... It's probably for the best, if you just call me Zhao for the time being." She offered hand, and smiled softly. "Since I've given you my name, why don't you tell me yours?"

Milo Thomas

Milo was lost. This fact was as plain as the nose on the young boy's face. No matter what direction he looked, everything that he could see looked exactly the same. It didn't help that he was only four feet tall, and that if he would actually stand up straight. His poor posture took his actual height down a few inches, and this short stature meant that he couldn't see very far in any direction. He looked around, seeing nothing but the same field that he had been in since waking up in this strange world. None of the soldiers or other strangers were anywhere to be seen, and Milo guessed he had probably been forgotten. The other strangers had fought against the kobolds. Milo had run away. It was all he knew how to do. He couldn't fight, and so he ran. That had always been his life. But now, he was hopelessly lost in some strange world with no idea what to do or where to go. Perhaps it had been foolish to run like he had when those kobolds broke through the lines and came after him, but it was either that or try to fight them and likely get killed in the process. His self-preservation instincts were still very much intact, and thus he had chosen the option that offered, in his estimation, the greater chance of survival, however temporary. Unfortunately, this option had now left him lost and forgotten, and so he was likely to die anyway, just slightly later than he would have if it had been at the paws of the kobolds. Once again, he wondered why he had been brought to this world if only to die a second time.

As Milo pondered these thoughts, he saw a figure fly up into the air. It looked like a human, but Milo had never known a human that had the ability to fly. Maybe things were different in this world? Maybe he could jump into the air and fly? He really didn't want to test that in case he couldn't fly and merely ended up crashing and hurting himself. And anyway, the flying person may not have actually been flying - Milo had only caught a quick glimpse of the figure before it fell back below the horizon, after all. Then the ground shook slightly, and Milo looked around to see what new terror was approaching. At first, he could see nothing, and then he saw one of the strangers from earlier rush to him. This was the same one that had promised to protect him. She had also promised to find him again just before she left to fight the Kobold Lord. Judging by how relieved she looked to have found him, that was the very reason she was coming this way. The woman asked Milo if he was hurt, then looked him over for injuries herself before he even had a chance to say that he was fine, aside from being hungry. She had then proceeded to apologize to Milo for leaving him behind, even though Milo had really been the one to leave her and the others behind when he ran from the kobolds; swore to protect Milo, which she really didn't need to do; and asked him to come back to camp with her. Milo took the hand she offered as she asked for his name. "M'name's Milo, Princess ma'am," he answered as they began walking back towards the site of the battle against the kobolds. It seemed all danger had passed from the area for the time being, for which Milo was grateful as he really didn't want to run into any more kobolds or whatever else was around in this field that might want to kill him.

@BurningDaisies

Those two knights, though, weren’t the only people privy to watching Erika’s gluttony in action. Having only stepped off the dogman’s corpse, Ying Yue was morbidly entertained by the display before her. At speeds that looked like she was inhaling rather than eating, the pale-skinned woman thoughtlessly consumed raw flesh, stripping meat from bone with haphazard technique. It was fascinating to see, and Ying Yue certainly didn’t allow her gaze to stray as this wild woman reduced such a massive corpse to half the dogman it used to be. Organs were slurped up like noodles, and even the offal was devoured with efficiency. And at the end of all that, the pale-skinned woman didn’t even look like she was all that full.

Certainly, the appetites of these white devils matched their monikers. Ying Yue was even a bit jealous. She’d have never been allowed to eat so much. Maybe she was missing out on something?

Full-armored warriors came by, reporting something about having to return now, and how they were gathering up corpses too, of both their comrades and their enemies. Were they also going to eat it? Was it, perhaps, even a delicacy for the Europeans? Ying Yue frowned and then, as the two knights began to drag the remains of the dogman away, she took her tomahawk and shaved off a meaty sliver of thigh. It looked grisly and nasty, but never let it be said that Ying Yue Geng was against sampling differing meals. The eastern islanders ate raw fish, and the barbarians up north drank the blood and milk of mares. Perhaps far west, the meat of the slain was something else quite enjoyable?

She popped it into her mouth, chewed once, and then spat it back out. Damn, she ate this?

The dark-haired girl spat out a couple more times, wishing that she had some water to wash out the taste of blood and stringy meat with. She looked back at the wild woman, who now looked to be talking to the islander, before storming right on over, physically and verbally barging into the conversation

“You,” Ying Yue called out, locking eyes with Erika immediately. “Have you never eaten real food before? That was indescribably foul.”

"This might take a while." Ren thought as he watched the old Knight vanish into the floating light.

"Hey, good job out there. Your arrow just blasted through that guy!" Ren almost jumped in surprise. He was too consumed in watching the Knights transporting the corpses that he didn't notice the girl with the dagger sneaking up on him. She began to introduce herself as Erika.

Ren nervously scratched his elbow where she touched him, "Um, t-thanks I guess. M-my name's Kusabe Rentarou, you can call me Ren. Nice to m-meet you." He bowed too quickly that his head hit Erika's shoulder, "A-Ahhh! I-I'm sorry!" He can feel his face flush in embarrassment, suddenly realizing fighting monsters is easier than interacting with people. After a couple of more awkward apologies, Erika began to ask him to look into a skill she has. Ren gladly obliged, quite relieved to change the subject.

"Y-you seem calm about... about all of these?" Ren made a gesture towards a couple of female Knights moving corpses using wind magic, "I didn't think it's possible at first, but it seems like we've been transported into a fantasy world... as in, like in games." Ren watched as one Knight lifted 4 Kobold corpses and toss it towards one of the floating lights without even breaking a sweat.

"The thing is, I can only see your stats at the moment." Ren began to use the Appraisal Skill on Erika, a little surprised that now the skill's levelled up, the voice in his head didn't need his permission to activate the skill. Ren surmised he will be able to do more things with his skills if he keeps increasing their level.

He began to talk about stats with Erika, going through them and explaining each as best as he could, "Well, that's just me thinking if this world follows the regular RPG rules. As for the skills, it's pretty vague even to me, but I'm guessing there must be some kind of a system that effects—"

Ren was cut short when the rope lady came storming in towards them, “You! Have you never eaten real food before? That was indescribably foul.” Addressing Erika beside him.

"Eat?" Ren thought. "Does this have something to do with Erika's skill?"

Ren watched as the rope lady gets closer, all the while giving Erika a disapproving stare. "Um, h-hello, my name's Ren. Nice to meet you." Ren said awkwardly.

Interacting with: @Sedjwick@BurningDaisies

Seeing that they were still sorting out the dead and wounded, Sam decided to go and interact with his fellow travellers. Though the archer seemed to have more of an idea of what was going on, Greed seemed leery of him and the way he was eying his loot bag. This, coupled with the death glare Wrath was sending towards the woman talking with him made it more apt to talk to the other woman and the kid. Wait... exposing Greed to a minor may be a bad idea... too late now, they had already walked over.

"Bonsoir madame et monsieur," Sam introduced himself, giving an exaggerated bow, "My name is Sam, though I go by the Puppeteer, and these are some of my friends. The one carrying the sack of loot and... is that a burglar mask and striped shirt?" Sam had completely missed the costume change somehow.

"If yer gonna steal, ya gotta wear the uniform!" the fox puppet grinned before being grabbed round the ear by Wrath in a police outfit.
"You're nicked, son." he said, in an exaggerated Londoner accent.
Greed cried as he was dragged off: "Nooo.... I'm too pretty for jail!"

Sam sweatdropped at the exchange before continuing. "Anyway... the one pretending to be a police officer is Wrath. I have five other friends, but I lack the ability to make them right now. Want to see a magic trick?"

Focusing on the ice inside him, he began to create a top hat out of ice, before twirling it to place it on his head.

Through experimentation you have unlocked the subcategory of Cryomancy "Ice Make"

"Not a bad hat... at least if it didn't cause brainfreeze..." he cringed as the ice made his brain numb.

Erika couldn't help but chuckle when Ren bowed a little too fast, a little too far and hit her which was followed by a lot more apologies. "It's okay, it's okay..." She said reassuringly with a calm smile. It was a little endearing to see how nervous he was. He wasn't unfriendly by any means so that was a nice consolation. Once he had shot off a couple more apologies, he had finally calmed down and they moved on to their main topic.

She let out another nervous chuckle, her hand moving to the back of her neck. "Yeah, I was pretty sure dying meant going to heaven or whatever. Not... to places like this." Erika's gaze followed Ren's as she watched the knights carry the bodies away with minima effort. "But also, during that battle, it just... I don't know, it doesn't seem like this world gave us enough time to deny what happened." And if she was being completely honest, it still hasn't fully dawned upon her. What does it really mean to have been transported like this? Were they supposed to do something or did the goddess literally just dropped them into this world without a mission to do?

As Ren explained his skill, she felt a little dejected. She hoped that he would have been able to clarify a few fine points... or maybe just someone else who could understand what her skill was. He likened the world to RPG logic, and it did make sense. They had skills, those skills leveled up and they also had stats. Though, something didn't sit right with her. If this was an RPG game, then shouldn't she have a level herself and not just her skills? Shouldn't she be leveling up after defeating a boss monster like that Kobold Lord?

Before he could finish his explanation, however, one of the Chinese women had stomped over to them and Erika immediately knew that she was the target for this interrogation.

"That's my problem!" Erika called out, raising both of her hands in a motion of surrender. "I'm sure you know about that voice in our head right? And it told me to eat the Kobold Lord to... increase my stats... or well, to get more powerful?" She carefully explained and it honestly sounded so far-fetched that she wouldn't have believed it herself if she wasn't the victim of this very odd skill.

"It tasted disgusting, I know. It's not the worst I've eaten but it's somewhere up there." It was odd that she hadn't felt the need to puke it out despite eating it raw... or the fact that her stomach wasn't hurting minutes after she had done it. Perks of the skill, probably. For a moment, she thought about asking what had gotten through the other woman's head as to replicate what she had done and took a taste of the Kobold Lord, but she figured that it wouldn't have been a good idea to point that out. It would sound incredibly hypocritical on her end. "And my name's Erika, for reference next time."

---

Things were going smoothly now that she had convinced the boy Milo that it was safe to return. She gave him an approving look as a satisfied grin play on her lips. "Come along then. The kobold may be gone, but we're still in the middle of the wilderness." They two meandered through the tall grass, walking astride, when one of the other's approached.

Zhao eyed him up and down, noting his features, she realized, for the first time: tall, lithe, and pale with a mop of dusky brown hair. The goggles resting on his head gave her a moment's pause. She had not see anything quite like it. Perhaps he was a scholar of some kind?

"Puppeteer?" She parroted, sounding a little confused. Driven by mild suspicion, her eyebrows inched upward. Faint memories of a rustic village began to surface. Children gathered around makeshift booths along the street, and the nearby merchants put on a show with hand puppets next to their shops. She watched the puppets act out their slapstick scenes and Sam's magic trick with a stoic calm, but the glimmer of wry amusement in her eyes would easily betray her. Sparing a glance at Milo, she briefly wondered if he was interested in puppets like those children in the village.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sam. I belong to the honorable Li family, humble protectors of Tian Xia. You may call me Zhao," she said with practiced formality, and bent forward in a modest bow.

Ying Yue frowned, not even sparing a glance towards the islander. She had heard of punishing training before. Meditation under a waterfall while you slice down logs dragged down by the flow of water. Climbing steep mountains with only the strength of your fingers. Wrestling with bears, tigers, monkeys, dragons, Buddhas. But to gain strength, through the consumption of the dead? It…hm, putting it that way, it wasn’t that strange. After all, the old maid always told her brothers: “Eat meat to grow meat. Don’t eat meat and grow weak.”

There was still a world of difference between eating cooked chicken and eating raw chicken though, and there was even more of a difference between eating a chicken killed quickly, and eating a giant dogman that was violently battered by the entirety of an army. To prefer the latter over the former, to do so without hesitation too, that could only be considered the sign of demonic influences, or some barbarous tradition.

Or maybe she was being a bit hasty, when this Eri Ka could be as harmless and helpful as Zhu Bajie.

“Then eat so much as you desire,” Ying Yue spoke, sweeping one hand grandly over the battlefield, the corpses of the dead dragged away by the metal-clad warriors. “I’ll not interfere with the cultivation of your own abilities, so long as you don’t begin devouring your brethren in the pursuit of power, Eri Ka of the Iron Gut. As for me, I am named Ying Yue, eldest daughter of the Geng family. These are strange circumstances, but unlike two others amongst us, you’re not a danger.”

Her nose twitched slightly. The rancid smell of blood and battered flesh wafted out of Eri Ka’s mouth with every word.

“Though your breath smells of the dead. Washing your mouth before an audience with their king would do much in improving your image.”

Milo Thomas
Interacting with: @Ryteb Pymeroce@BurningDaisies

Milo felt safer in the presence of this young woman. Growing up in Victorian London where anyone you met might want to steal from you or worse made Milo a fairly good judge of character, and he could tell that Zhao was genuinely concerned for his safety. As they neared the site of the battle, where soldiers were gathering the dead and treating the wounded, another of the strangers approached. It was the man with the strange puppets. Judging by the man's skin tone and accent, Milo could tell he was an Englishman like himself, though he certainly had a peculiar way of dressing by Milo's estimation. But then again, so did everyone else, and they probably thought that Milo's way of dressing was just as peculiar, so he really wasn't in any position to make any sort of judgement.

Milo watched as one of the puppets, wearing a mask and striped shirt and carrying a bag of loot, was grabbed by the other puppet who was dressed in a policeman's uniform and speaking with an exaggerated London accent. Milo had seen scenes like this one play out several times back in the real world, and he laughed in amusement at the puppet's antics, though he did marvel at the fact that these clearly artificial puppets seemed to be truly alive, unless Sam was so masterful in his professed craft that he was able to manipulate the puppets without any perceptible movement on his own part. Milo, however, was convinced of the puppets' true autonomy when Sam conjured a top hat out of ice. This was clearly no sleight of hand trickery as Milo had come to understand magic - this was real magic, and it was likely this same magic that had brought the puppets to life, though Milo still didn't understand how that sort of thing worked. Still, this magic, in particular Sam's ability to conjure ice from nothing, intrigued Milo for reasons he couldn't quite explain, but he wondered if he couldn't somehow learn to do the same sort of thing? The idea sent an odd tingle through Milo's body and reawakened the odd feeling he had felt when that strange voice had first spoken to him and mentioned something about a blessing.

A skill that lets you gain stats by eating monsters? While it's not unheard of, this will be a first for Ren to actually encounter a human who posses it.

"The voice mentioned about a goddess blessing," Ren suddenly remembered, "I think it has something to do with our skills."

He began to go through his own stats, and confirmed it, "Kairelith's Blessing. I have one currently, and the way how the battle played out earlier, I'm pretty sure everyone of us who just got transported here has one too."

The way things look, Ren guessed these skills are unique only to them. That would make sense. If by any chance the Knights posses even one skill similar to them, the fight with the Kobolds would've been a little different.

"A skill that lets you gain stats by eating huh? That almost sounded like a cheat skill. Normally, experience is gained through fighting or doing a certain task. Once you gained enough experience, you level up, this in turn give you stats. Your skill basically bypass that mechanics. You can just let a whole fight happen without you lifting a finger and then feast on the aftermath, gaining the same stats as everyone else, or even more." Ren said, getting into his geek mode. "I would love to know more about that skill, if you let me."

Ren noticed the other kids walking towards them — the other asian girl along with the little boy and the ice guy. Ren can't help but wonder what kind of skills they have. "I guess better ask them myself." Ren thought.