Haru: Acolyte, Level 10/20
Haru stepped through the portal and in the blink of an eye, found herself on a stone paved road flanked by hedgerows. In the middle of the area was a fountain blasting a waterspout high into the air. Behind the acolyte, through the portal she just exited, was her old encounter. She successfully left the instance and was out in the world again.
At a jog, she did a lap around the outer perimeter of the garden she was in, looking for her friends. After several loops, they were nowhere to be found. Finally convinced she wouldn’t find them, Haru walked over to the edge of the fountain and sat down, worried they had left her behind, wondering how to find them.
Before she could open her menu to view the party screen, a desperate wail echoed throughout the area. Haru jolted, her attention drawn to the instance exit from where the chaotic sound emanated.
Laying on the ground was Opti, howling while writhing and kicking.
Haru jumped to her feet and dashed to the initiate. “What happened?” She noticed his HP was at 1% and started casting Mend.
Opti, still on his back, threw punches into the air. “Why was that so hard?”
A writhing in Haru’s chest soon turned to pain, and it became clear he was shouting in frustration. “It was hard?”
The initiate curled up in a ball putting his back to her. “Of course it was! And you probably had it easy. You’re the only one of us with a heal. I bet you breezed right through, no sweat.”
After Mend went off, Haru couldn’t help but to wonder if the demon got to him too, somehow. “So… uh… what was it like—I mean you do more damage, clearly you must have done it faster.”
“You were here waiting for me!” Opti looked over his shoulder.
Haru scratched her head. “Oh… right.” She stared at her leather boots, trying to think of words. “Well, tell me what happened.”
With his HP at 100%, Opti uncurled himself and stood up, then brushed himself off. “That cat is a monster!”
“Vernal?” Haru recoiled.
“Yeah, that’s his name.” The initiate pointed at her. “He’s ultra-fast and ridiculously spammy. He has this dive-bomb attack that hits the whole arena.”
Haru cradled her chin in her hand. “Was he a big muscular sabretooth or a little house cat?”
“Little, and he has armor on.” Opti brought his palm level with the ground, then lowered it.
That sounded like him. But it was strange that for some reason he decided to go all-out like that. While Haru and her companion did often tinker with the attack speed and miss rate of their encounter when they were both in the game, it seems strange that he would suddenly decide to hammer players relentlessly. Something was up.
The acolyte nodded. “Yeah, I’m not sure. That sounds out of character.”
Emu stumbled from the portal. His health was at 10%. He let out an exhausted sigh. “Why’d they go and make that encounter so hard all of a sudden?”
In a hurry, Haru targeted and started casting healing on him. “That bad, huh?”
The legionnaire shrugged. “I don’t know why they changed up that fight all of a sudden. It used to be three phases and wasn’t overly difficult. Now it was a punishing one phase brawl.”
Haru’s heal finished and brought Emu back to 100% HP.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Haru’s healing magic raised to level 2.
Emu turned to the acolyte. “How’d you do?”
“Oh, me?” Haru instinctively turned to Opti as she was reminded of what she needed to do. “It was a trip—” She blinked, hearing her own words. “Hard. It was hard.”
Emu nodded slowly. “I have no clue how you made it out of there. You’re way more skilled than I am.”
Haru scratched her head. “I don’t think that’s necessarily true…”
Alara emerged from the instance and stumbled forward, then plopped flat on her stomach. She was at 5% HP and 0% mana. After she settled, she let out an exhausted cry.
Opti turned and looked down at her. “How’s the world’s best DPS?”
“I’ll nuke you out of existence.” Alara groaned. “I just wanted my rest state, why do the devs hate me so much?”
Haru started casting Mend on the mage.
Alara pushed herself upright, then knelt into recovery mode. “Please tell me they didn’t change anything about the way to Fairbank.”
Emu laughed. “I hope not, it’s getting late.”
The mage sobbed as the initiate’s healing spell put her back to 100% HP.
They were still waiting for Taci to emerge. Haru decided to walk back over to the fountain and sit down, contemplating how to follow Oracle’s recommendation. She watched Opti pace around near the instance portal, and sensed he was still riled up from the encounter. Now would have been the perfect time to talk to him, but she didn’t want to risk agitating him further by being annoying.
After what felt like hours, Taci walked out of the instance, at 100% HP.
Opti spun on his heels and gawked with his mouth agape. Emu recoiled upon seeing Taci emerge. Alara stood up from her recovery and let out a high-pitched exclamation.
The initiate raced over to the footpad. “How did you manage to get out and not take a hit?”
Taci displayed his weapon. “I have a bow.”
Emu smiled. “You were smart and kited him, didn’t you?”
Taci nodded.
Alara scoffed. “That’s why it took so long then.” She shook her head. “I bet you barely even had to stand still. That’s why I’m still the world’s best DPS. Casting takes skill.”
The group laughed at her comment.
Emu looked to each of his fellow party members. “We should head to Fairbank and turn in our job change orbs.”
“And finally log out.” Alara raised her arms over her head.
The group departed, following the road out of the garden, down a small hill and into the Plentiful Glade proper. The path widened as the forest became denser. They followed the linear thoroughfare until coming upon a four-way intersection.
“This is basically a level-coded intersection.” Emu said as they stopped. He pointed south. “That’s where we came from, level 10.” He turned west. “We go deeper into the glade until level 15.” Then he turned east. “And we go to the beach until level 20.” Then he turned north and pointed. “But for now, Fairbank.”
As the group continued toward the main city, Haru couldn’t help but to stare down the eastern path. That’s where the demon’s lair awaited. There was yet a long road ahead before she could even consider taking that path.
They followed through the thick forest until coming upon a hard left turn in the road. On the north-facing flank was the drop of a massive cliff. In the distance, the canopy parted and revealed a circular marble wall etched into the landscape. The core of the defensive structure was a huge needle that reached toward the clouds. Inside, many stone structures were situated around the base of the needle. It was Fairbank.
After continuing to follow the winding road down into the clearing, the party reached the outer walls. It was bustling with players coming and going from the giant gates. On the far western side was a shoreline. Most of the crowd rushed down a small side road, deeper into the lower forest.
The party entered the city through the open portcullis and arrived at the auction house inside, near the gate. Nearby, a huge mass of players was hawking wares in trade chat, running up to the auctioneer counter, or otherwise loitering near the commerce center.
“It was a little bit of a walk, but we made it.” Emu called out over the clamor of the hawkers as he led the group toward the main bridge that connected the auction house and trading area to the central part of town.
Everyone gathered around him.
“This is where we’ll part for now.” Emu said.
Alara sighed. “It’s so late, but I needed my rest state.”
“Before you go.” Emu held his hand up. “If you need help finding anything, ask a guard.” He pointed to the guards pacing around, clad in steel chest armor with armet half-helms. “They can tell you where your job master is.” He nodded. “Alright, well gg.”
Emu logged off, his form disappearing where he stood. Alara waved and then did the same. Taci looked at Opti and Haru, waved and then logged out as well.
Both Opti and Haru looked at each other.
“Still can’t log out?” Haru tilted her head.
The initiate shrugged. “It’s not meant to be.”
Haru looked around, trying to figure out a reason to talk to Opti. Then she noticed the hunger debuff showing under his health bar. “Oh!”
Opti cocked an eyebrow.
She cleared her throat. “I—I mean oh, look you have that debuff again.”
The initiate nodded. “I am kind of getting hungry.”
Haru pointed to the inn on the other side of the bridge overlooking the harbor. “Well, no need to pass out right? I think they sell food.”
“Right, good idea.” Opti started walking toward it.
Haru smiled. This might be the perfect opportunity to find out more about Opti.