Setagaya, Tokyo - 06/11/2022 - 12:50 PM
Varren leaned back in his chair and stretched out, extremely sore from hunching over his desk for the past few hours. Typing away on a subject which caught his interest seemed to distort time, minutes went by as fast as seconds. Once he finished jotting down the conclusive paragraph, his eyes wandered over to the digital clock, sitting on the back corner of his workspace. He narrowed his eyes in disbelief, having started his schoolwork at nine o’clock this morning. Being a second year student in high school was tiring, though he knew the proceeding cycle would decide his fate, where and how far he would get in life. After taking a sip from a cup of coffee, he made an annoyed expression at the beverage, which had unfortunately gone cold. The teen stuffed his laptop into a satchel and stood up from the desk, it dawned upon him what the time truly meant. He rushed over to the other side of his room and grabbed a grey helmet, the black visor which covered his eyes shined with luster. “Hey, mother! I’m going to play that game father bought me.” He called down the stairs, his mother responded with her allowance. Varren smiled and slipped the helmet onto his head, then laid back on his bed. He breathed in deeply, then exhaled.
”Link. Start.”
Varren woke up with a start, the images of the dream still imprinted deeply in his mind. He was intaking sharp breaths, as if he was gasping for air. It took him a minute to calm down, he ran a hand through his hair, “Damn.” The player muttered repeatedly, trying to stabilize his mentality. Once he felt like it, he rose from the bed and dressed himself in his usual attire. “I need to go on a walk to clear my head.” Yinyues suggested to himself, departing from the inn after purchasing a cup of tea. Either than the rough start to his morning, he nonchalantly made his way through the city and ventured into the nearby forest. The highest level normal mobs which lurked on this floor were level sixes, only bosses which roamed the region would be attracted to him. When low level players ventured onto the higher floors, they attracted monsters like honey, especially those of the same rank as the floor number. As he made his way through the city, he noticed a certain notable individual. It was a beast tamer, which were uncommon in this game. Most players spent time padding their own stats, rather than developing an AI companion, which lacked a soul and individuality. As in depth as the AI system may be, it could never completely live up to actual beings. Its tamer was a short girl, who had hazel hair which went past her shoulders. She was draped in a trimmed yellow robe, which had a metal chestplate and shoulder-guards, bolted onto leather straps.
“Seems like she’s heading in the same direction as me. Probably going to try and grind for some EXP or col.” The distance between them was 100 meters, chances are they would stray into separate paths somewhere in the forest. He waited a bit until the person disappeared from his sight before entering the greenery. He took sips from the beverage at random intervals, finding its taste and the scenery relieving. Once in a while Varren committed himself to these stress-reducing walks, though it was hard to take a breather when monsters ambushed him at every turn. Though, the refreshing walk only last at least ten minutes, until he heard the clashing of metal in the distance. Though Varren’s stealth wasn’t that high, his natural physique wasn’t that noticeable. Being skinny and sleek, he was able to hide in between crevices, or take cover behind a tree. Normally, it would be sensible to walk away from the sound of a blade, but since it was only the second floor, its user probably wasn’t that high of a level. He found a small ridge to scale, and propped himself over its edge, peering down at the fight. The girl from earlier was fighting a «Wind Wasp», an oversized version of the ones from the real world, which possessed the ability to poison and freeze an individual if a hit is landed. Though, because of its ginormous body, it is relatively slow, making it easy to combat and dodge.
Varren studied the skills the tamer used, her dragon waited on standby as the fight went on. Though with a couple of skill activations, the monster was defeated with grace. He sighed out of relief, and intended to continue his walk. His eyes darted to his left when he felt breathing on his shoulder. The player was face to face with a bloodhound, bearing its teeth in frustration. Its red eyes stared directly into Varren’s, he glanced at the monster’s name. «Matriotic Lupian», it was a boss rated monster. A few meters behind it were two common wolves, probably the boss’ followers. “Shit!” Varren yelled as he activated his «Flat Edge» ability to parry the boss’ strike, the side of his blade collided with its claws. The mere force of the block sent him rolling down the hill, he stopped rolling once he reached the tamer’s level. He looked up at the mobs and readied his blade. One of the followers pounced down from the ridge, Varren instinctively raised his estoc and activated a different ability, «Piercing Strike». The blade gave off a magenta colored light, Yinyues lead the sword and jousted it towards the belly of the beast.
The wolf landed cleanly on the point, the blade then sank through its body, draining its life and causing it to burst into polygons. He backed up towards the other players and readied the estoc, “Um. Sorry, I was going for a walk and this thing snuck up on me.” The two other mobs slid down the ridgeside and brought themselves to a halt. A mass of blue light took form next to the pair, creating another minion. “We have to kill the boss, or else those followers will keep respawning.” Varren gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, making sure to keep his distance from the monster. “Even though it’s only level 10, it will be a hassle to take care of it. I’m surprised it hasn’t been killed for the past six months.” He took a battle stance, waiting for the mobs to make their next move.
