The next day, William woke early, wanting to get as much team building in as possible. He found John doing a morning run. Even in the new world, the idea of getting up early just to run was draining just to think about. He felt like he could fight with the best of them now, but was not going take up running. He was already confident with his stats that he could probably keep up with Olympians at this point.

John stopped when he noticed William watching and jogged over to him.

“Hey man, what’s up? Here to join for a run?” John asked with a hint of curiosity that was nearly eclipsed by what William could summarize was ‘bullshit morning energy’.

“That’s your arena, man, mine isn’t as...safe, I guess,” William replied, wondering what John’s response to his request would be.

“True. True. Please tell me you aren’t wanting to spar or something? I’d get trounced.”

William couldn’t help but chuckle at that, drawing what was clearly faux disgruntlement from John.

“No, John, not in the literal sense anyway,” William replied, getting control of his mirth once more.

John gave him a suspicious look and William quickly added, “I mean for us to go out and work as a duo for a couple days. I want you to help with a mission that me and Wallace discussed.”

“What you trying to drag me into now, man? Why not take Stacey, or Armine, maybe both, make a date out of it?”

William raised an eyebrow donning a coy expression as he said, “You jealous? You got someone that you like?”

John stared blankly for a moment before a mischievous gleam shone in them, “Yes and Yes. Is your sister single?” He said, mischief plastering his expression entirely.

William had plenty of practice in the ‘ yo mama” and “yo sister” department from the...colorful communities he played with back on earth. The easiest way was simple; spoil their fun.

“Help yourself man, don’t expect it to go easy for you though, she can be a handful,” William replied, suddenly realizing that the last line he said was an accidental setup for a witty retort about ‘good handfuls’.

Fortunately, John didn’t see the set up, and William swiftly got the topic back to more relevant stuff.

“So, you in? The idea is to work together in the woods and hunt creatures and stuff to develop our teamwork. You should get a few levels out of it if we encounter some of the...stronger things around,” William said, hoping to sell it to him with a bit of cheeky power levelling.

It seemed to work as John visibly turned thoughtful. A few moments passed before he agreed.

John stretched his limbs, presumably to do a warm down as William asked, “So, what level you at now man?”

“Level eight Mage, level two Archer, human level nine. I’m the highest level Mage in Greenwell currently,” John said, pride radiating from him.

“Also near the race level ten milestone too. I’m curious if you get offered the same skills as I did. I got [Party Interface] and [Cartographer], Ignoring [Delver]. I wanna know more, but shall we go and talk about it on the way?”

“Sure man, I need to get some dried meat from the pantry though,” John replied, finishing his stretches.

“No need,” William said, tossing him a small pack that was stored in his spatial ring.

“I’ve already made the preparations,” He swiftly added, making his way for the gate, scanning the palisade as he went.

John caught up to him quickly, a bit of dried meat in his maw. William only gave a brief moment of attention to that as his focus was entirely on the construction effort. It was still early, so not many people were about. He didn’t examine the work up close, however, as he didn’t want to show that he had suspicions in public.

From a distance however, it all seemed to be strong. Support beams were affixed in place, with further cross-beams connecting them. He wasn’t an expert but it looked strong. Maybe one of the coming nights he would try and test them when everyone was asleep.

The pair left Greenwell shortly after that and made their way east.

William then picked up their conversation from before, “So how does your Archer level work man?”

John gave him a wide grin as he replied, “I level the class from visiting places I’ve not been before. Usually every twenty miles or so of entering new places, I get a bundle of EXP. Helping with the logging work got me my second level as it seems to count similar paths in the same direction. For example, If I go north, then south east towards the woods, I’ll get EXP, then if I head just straight east as we are now, I get EXP. If I did it another way, I’d get EXP. Only once each time though. The fact I always liked running fits the style of the class apparently. Long shots with the bow also add bonus EXP. The exploration part is the same as for scouts, but I dont get hand to hand skills or melee in general as a trade off.”

“Oh. OH! Then, what we’re doing should help you out quite quickly then,” William replied, catching on to the meaning of John’s wide grin.

John laughed then, causing William to chuckle a bit too. They crested the first hill and William took a moment to admire the view. The summer weather made the verdant green shine bright, as a gentle breeze kissed William’s skin, the touch of summer’s caress.

He was drawn from his tranquility as John said, “You like it in this world, don’t you?” Seeming curious and sympathetic.

Did he like it in their new world? His old life was miserable and kept aloft by his hobbies and cope eating, but he didn’t experience much pain, or nearly die, time and time again. He had grown as a person since coming to GAEA, and he was grateful for his interpersonal growth no doubt boosted by that clutch Charisma stat. The skills, gear, and fighting forms all helped him grow even further, and he had also got laid. Just over a month in GAEA was already better than nineteen years on Earth, and all he had to do was risk his life each day.

He gave the question some thought before replying, “I both love it, and hate it. I hate the high chance of painful death, but I love the ability to grow in strength through various means. I don’t think I’d ever go back to Earth now.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Absolutely. This world feels tailor made to my skills.”

“I never thought those video games would become tailor made guidance in another fucking world,” John replied, chuckling, partially stupefied.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“How’re you finding it?” William asked, trying to turn the topic away from himself.

“I miss my extended family, the ones who left to other states back on Earth, and I wonder what the consequence of our disappearance turned out to be. I think it’s the same with a few of the others too. You know how people are, they find love, have a family and move away, not wanting to limit their kids to a rural life like ours.”

William nodded, thinking on some of his old friends from when he was younger who moved away.

“Who knows, maybe an opportunity to return will present itself, then whoever wants to leave, can do so,” William said, after a long moment of silence.

“If it does, I’m not sure if I’ll take it, myself. Whilst it would be nice to see my other family members, I’m coming to love levelling my classes and feeling the impact of higher stats on my body and mind. We don’t know if these are things we’d keep if we went back home,” John replied, thoughtfully scratching the scruff on his chin as the pair continued their walk.

John spoke up again after a couple minutes of walking, “earlier on...when I said about your sister…I do actually like her. Do you think I’d have a chance?”

William looked over at him assessing the man. He was starting to get lean, probably from his Dexterity contributions over the past levels, and took in the facial features of John. He had hazel hair and matching hazel eyes. The hair had originally been cut short, but had started to grow out. There was a thin layer of scruff facial hair on his face that coated a rounded jawline. John was about 5’9”, but still taller than Jane so he had that going for him at least.

“If you can shave that facial hair off, you might have a chance, but make sure to go in with confidence. I can’t be fucked to do any of that over protective brother shite, but if you do succeed, please look after her,” William finally said, having thought up the best words he could give at that point.

“what’s wrong with my facial hair?” John replied, more dejected than before.

“It’s not exactly the neatest of them all. I quickly shave what I have every morning, and it’s like two minutes of my time. Higher Dexterity does surprising wonders for shaving with daggers.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have one of your girls doing it for you,” John replied with evidently faux disdain.

“I barely get time to do much other than...nighttime activities. I’m usually training, exploring, or fighting, so not much time to actually do other things. Armine has an almost insatiable libido, starkly contrasting Stacey’s more...warm and passionate approach.”

“My heart weeps for you William, it must be so difficult for you.”

I’m glad someone finally understands my woes,” William replied, eclipsing John’s sarcasm with his own.

The pair laughed enjoying the back and forth. William was pleased, it felt like a boys day out, something he had never got to enjoy back on Earth. They joked and chatted about many things, like John’s botanical interests, and his old terrarium. William had learned that the terrarium was diverse enough that it was an ecosystem that could permanently function with no input from John required, bringing some relief to John’s face as he explained.

John didn’t really get much about the gaming and manga hobbies of William, but both agreed that their hobbies were good ways to pass the time. They continued this way until they reached the woodland. The first thing they did was to look over the logging site. William was looking for any tampering or the like, as the Duncans had intended to head there before the capture. Nothing seemed amiss, no tools were ever left behind, and the lumber was piled high. Confirming that nothing was tampered with, the pair ventured into the Sylvar Woodland. They walked to the southern reaches of it as neither had been that way yet. William hunting for new shinnies or new foes, and John wanted to level his Scout class. William spotted a familiar creature not too far south; A Horned Lynx.

He was relieved that they had seemingly not all become Fell-kin. John readied his hands to cast a spell, but William held his hand up to hold fire. He walked forward towards the beast and loosed his aura, feeding some killing intent into it. He didn’t want to kill the beast as he wouldn’t get much EXP from it, and he didn’t know how endangered the creatures might be. They had killed a large amount of the population already he had guessed, given the lack of the beasts around the logging site. The Fell-kin issue culled the population even further, he suspected, so unnecessary kills like this one would be, seemed pointless.

The Lynx lowered it’s head slightly in fear, feeling the effect of a predator’s gaze. The beast shortly fled after that and William retracted the aura once more. It was surprisingly intuitive to control once he figured out the basics. John also lowered his hands, looking visibly surprised, and partially afraid.

“I’m guessing, from your face, my aura also affected you?”

John nodded quietly, eyes fixed to where the Lynx had fled.

“Sorry man, still not sure how to affect specific things with it.”

“It’s...fine...I guess, just...please don’t do it again with me nearby, I’m still shook up from it. No wonder the beast ran away.”

William considered his friend for a moment and let out a sigh as he said, “We can take a break if you want?”

John nodded again, not wasting any time as he plonked his butt down at the base of a nearby tree, William doing the same at an adjacent one.

They rested for a few minutes in peace, as the pair took in the sound of chirping birds, and rustling of leaves on the wind that danced through the canopy. The now mid-morning sun, shining its rays through the canopy’s gaps, bathing specific spots in focused warmth.

The pair set off again after a few minutes, and they were a couple more hours into the walk when [Danger Sense] activated to the left of the pair. William extended his shield to block what turned out to be a barbed needle that bounced off of the hard metal with ease.

The pair turned to look at the threat and both pairs of eyes widened at the sight. William felt like he didn’t really need to [Identify] the foe, but he did so anyway:

{Ascension_Protocol}

Insectoid – Barbed Vespa – Level 12

{End}

A big, barbed, wasp. Apparently, they were the assholes of GAEA as well. He hated wasps. They had no real purpose compared to bees. He didn’t hesitate to use his Alpha Strike then, and was about to carry on on his way, the insect but a bad memory. It didn’t work that way, unfortunately, as the damage was a deep gash in the chitin, leaking out green ichor, but not enough to deter the creature as its buzzing got quicker and the barbs on its body started to protrude. William didn’t hesitate to fully raise his shield’s size, just in time to avoid the barrage of barbs.

Sticking his head out from around the shield, he saw that the body where barbs had once been, now had empty sockets, that to his horror, were already beginning to secret new barbs. This was a new level of Asshole, as the good thing with wasps was that they could only sting you if they touched you. This Asshole however, didn’t seem to need that physical connection.

Fortunately, there seemed to be a brief respite as Asshole flew a little bit higher, out of sword reach while the barbs grew back. William was stumped on what to do, given that his opener didn’t outright kill Asshole. Suddenly, a [Fire-bolt] sailed through the air, striking the creature on its wing, causing Asshole to crash into the ground.

William took the opportunity to dash over and bury his sword into the head of the creature, using [Vortex Thrust] and [Mana Investment] to punch a clean hole through Asshole. William had to dive out of the way immediately after however, to avoid being bisected by the creature’s scarily sharp mandibles. It was the final death throes of the creature, not long for this world. With a final chittering, it fell lifeless.

Fire was super-effective apparently.

The area grew silent and the two men cheered at their success.

“I got another Mage Level, and level ten human!” John, yelled in delight.

“Nice one man, let’s see what you ge-” William was about to say, until the sound of buzzing grew from the distance, strong enough to shake the ground they stood on.

“Assholes,” Both of them said, frustrated.

They then saw a yellow cloud approach from the same direction as the first Asshole had. As the sight grew with the reverberations in everything around them, the two men paled.

If they were caught, neither of them would live for a fraction of a second. John took the initiative and used [Fire-Wall], creating a thirty meter long wall that extended to about fifty feet into the air.

William was gobsmacked, but a gesture of the hand from John, brought him out of his stupor as the two brave warriors tactically ran for their lives.

What good boys day out didn’t include setting something on fire?