Allison Gray breathed a sigh of relief as she handed over the bag to the orc chief. He took it, opened it, and took a look inside. Then, he smiled and turned his gaze to her.
“Good work. Please come back in twelve hours for your next quest.”
His actions were premeditated and robotic, as if he were acting. Allison could tell that he was a real person and not just an NPC, but she kept silent. She nodded with a smile and turned around. The rest of her group had already finished their quests. She had been the last. She looked at the faces of the five people she had teamed up with and spoke.
“There we go, everyone. Thank you so much for your support.”
A tall, muscular man let out a boisterous laugh.
“No problem! We’re a team.”
The others also smiled at her. They were all people she had met after having barely managed to reach Yellowbright Village. She had avoided every possible enemy on the way and had run away when facing them was necessary. It had been difficult. At her age, she couldn’t run for long, especially given that she wasn’t particularly in shape. She was just an ordinary middle-aged woman. She crossed her hands over her chest and spoke.
“I’m going to find Liara. I have leveled up to Level 10 after this hunt. I’ll seek her advice.”
A beautiful young woman nodded.
“I need to go seek advice too. How about we split up and gather here tomorrow?”
The others readily agreed. Soon, Allison was left on her own, walking towards the designated teacher for Healers.
I hope we don’t have to fight so much.
She knew it was an impossible wish. From the moment she arrived in the Tutorial Zone and the Tutorial’s main objective was revealed, she knew that surviving would be difficult. She hadn’t expected that she would need to fight, however. The System spoke in a language she didn’t clearly understand. She didn’t know what XP was, nor why it was acquired by killing other living beings. She found it sadistic and cruel. The fact that it was needed to level up and become stronger – therefore more capable of surviving – was the finishing touch. She wasn’t a fighter or a warrior. In fact, most people weren’t. For that reason, she had picked the Healer Class. She wanted to support others without needing to fight herself.
As she walked through the streets of the Village, she turned her thoughts to other matters. Namely, the most important issue that had been keeping her up at night.
My son.
She didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. She didn’t even know if he was alive. As her thoughts reached this point, she found herself choking up and stopped walking. “Worried sick” was not nearly enough to describe how she currently felt. Michael had still lived with her back on Earth, and they were a wonderful family. She couldn’t bear the thought that perhaps he was already lying in some beast’s stomach or strewn across the floor.
Allison took deep breaths. She needed to calm down. There was no guarantee that her son was alive, but that didn’t mean he was dead. She needed to believe in him. She needed to believe that he could have found a way to prevail. He was special, after all. A light, sad smile adorned her face. He didn’t know, but she did. Her beautiful, heroic son. She wouldn’t be able to withstand it if it turned out that something bad had happened to him. Death wasn’t the only concern; permanent damage was just as bad in a world like this.
Eventually, she reached the hut of the Healer “NPC.” Liara was sitting on the ground in the courtyard, looking bored. She raised her gaze as Allison approached.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“Hello, Allison. I see that you’ve reached Level 10.”
Allison nodded with a smile.
“Yes. I’m sorry I took so long. I’d like advice regarding which Skill to pick.”
“It’s normal to level up more slowly when you’re in a Party. There’s no shame in that, as well. Nearly every single one of the humans who reached this Village is also in a Party. It’s already difficult enough for you people to battle to the death. Seeking support among your peers is natural.”
It was true. There were very few people capable of fighting without worry, especially alone. In modern Earth, most had jobs completely unrelated to anything even resembling a battle of this kind.
Michael would be able to fight.
The thought of her son, her greatest pride, made a small smile make its way to her face. She was certain that he could do it. Liara watched her with interest.
“You’re thinking of your son, aren’t you?”
Allison blinked and flashed an apologetic smile.
“Yes. I’m sorry. Have you heard of him? Has the Village Chief said anything?”
Liara shook her head.
“There’s nobody called Michael Gray in Yellowbright Village. There are some named ‘Michael,’ but none who match your description, either. I’m sorry, Allison.”
Allison’s apologetic expression turned into an uneasy one. Noticing this, Liara continued to speak.
“Your best bet is to wait until he either reaches this Village on his own, or until the events start happening.”
“Events?”
“I can’t elaborate on it, but soon the Villages will start making contact with one another and other settlements.”
Allison nodded with a thoughtful expression. Indeed, going out on her own seeking a single person was worse than trying to find a needle in a haystack. She had already asked both Liara and the Village Chief to immediately notify her if anybody named “Michael Gray” appeared; all she could do now was wait. She determined that only when the villages started interacting would she have a real shot at finding him.
Please, be okay. God, hear me now. Please keep my son safe.
She opened up her Skill selection window under Liara’s gaze. Eventually, the two settled for a Skill that allowed her to heal someone from a distance. It was the best Skill among the ones she had been offered, but there was also another layer to her choice: it was the Skill most well-suited to supporting someone in battle. Someone like Michael. Allison wasn’t a battle-hardened warrior, but she would fight if it meant that it would help her son. Steeled determination flooded her mind.
She would find him and keep him safe, no matter what. It was the duty of a mother.
***
Michael knocked on the door of the small wooden house in front of him.
“Rose? It’s Michael.”
A low voice came out from within.
“Go ahead and come in.”
His gaze was briefly directed to the Party window. Her HP was still only 70% full. He pushed the door open and beheld the inside of the hut. It wasn’t too different from Tairy’s home, rustic and simple. An open door leading to the bedroom allowed Michael to see Rose lying on the bed. He cautiously walked toward her, waiting to see if she would say anything, but she let him enter the bedroom without an issue. She sighed and pointed at herself.
“So? What do you think?”
Most of her legs could be seen, making the deep cuts and bruises immediately visible. While her upper body was covered by the Village’s standard shirt, he didn’t doubt that it was in a similar condition. He spoke.
“You’ve looked better.”
She sighed.
“Tell me about it. I couldn’t go to the Healer NPC because ‘my villager rank isn’t high enough’ or some dumb shit, so I just gotta wait for them to heal on their own.”
“Oh. Let me give you a hand, then.”
His fingers drew symbols in the air under her questioning gaze. In just over a second, a Minor Heal covered her figure. He watched as her HP rose in real-time and the wounds disappeared. Eventually, she was brought to 90% HP. Michael decided to stop there. He didn’t want her to know that he could use spells like Minor Heal too easily. He was already regretting having shown her his healing spell alone. It had been an impulsive decision that he could no longer take back.
In the meantime, she stared at him with a shocked expression. She spoke in a disbelieving voice.
“What the hell? I thought you were a Mage!”
“I am a Mage. I just picked up a healing Skill since I hunt alone. It’s very taxing to use, so don’t expect more of them.”
“Still, that’s crazy! Damn, I wish I had a healing Skill. I prefer to hunt alone too. What Level are you right now? I can’t use Analyze on you, so you must be at least the same Level as me.”
Michael flinched but knew she didn’t notice. He had forgotten about Analyze. The cat wasn’t entirely out of the bag, but now she knew that he had grown powerful. He looked at her and silently used Analyze himself.
[Rose Jackson, Level 15.]
As expected, her Level was lower than his, even though she had been over Level 10 when they first met.