After fighting the trio of BABY ICE BATS, Elizabeth was ready to get out of the mountain and lay down in a warm bed. Her character's body was covered in muck from falling and her stomach grumbled. She knew that she'd been lucky to encounter babies and not full-grown bat's while being exhausted.
They were hard enough, swarming the pair with their vicious frothing mouths and vacant eyes. She was relieved that Pudding was safe and hugged the ICE SLIME tightly in her arms.
Fighting with the slime was going to be hard so she needed to level up quickly and get better at the in-game combat at her disposal. That was her best option. For now, the brunette focused on finally exiting the mountain and reaching civilization.
“We made it, Pudding!”
The ICE SLIME let out a giddy chirp as the teenager stood in the middle of town square. They had finally arrived after numerous distractions and she was left in awe by it all. There had to be over a thousand players with her, going on with ther in-game lives carefree. The town was made out of European styled buildings crafted out of stone and marble.
The ground was covered in snow along with the trees and the bushes that sat in every free corner. The ground she walked on was made out of what felt like white tile, the sidewalk being forgotten for the sake of the aesthetic. Players and NPCS were everywhere.
They were working at merchant stalls, haggling with people to bring down the price of the meats and fruits they were selling. She watched as a pack of hunters walked past, carting in a dead mob that she had never seen before. It looked like a reverse mermaid.
With the legs being human and the top being that of a monstrous bulbous of a fish head. A foul smell wafted from its slimy corpse, causing her stomach to turn. She was shocked they weren't puking from how potent it was. They brought it over to a merchant stall run by a NPC that was built to look like a friendly grandma.
The woman was happy at the sight of the creature and Elizabeth watched as they began to discuss selling certain parts of it for what price. She turned to see that a group of players stood around passing out what looked to be flyers. They chatted with people then moved to someone else.
One of them, a woman, who had the features of a red fox, came up to her. Elizabeth saw that she was dressed in a pair of shorts that had a gun hilt and a tank top. She looked beautiful. “Hello,” The fox woman greeted her with a smile and handed her a paper. “Are you interested in joining a guild?”
“A guild?” Elizabeth asked as Pudding fell asleep in her arms.
The fox woman nodded and explained further. “Some of my friends are making a guild and we need ten more members to register for events.” She looked at her ICE SLIME and chuckled. “We could use a cute mascot.”
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The brunette scrunched up her face and sat on it. Guilds were common and they tended to be made up of thirty players. You got housing, income and constant missions by joining one. This led to tons of players trying to make one with anyone they felt they could get along with.
It was the perfect way to be part of a community with people across the globe. The teenager would love to make in-game friends and go on missions with a bunch of stronger players.
The tutorial didn't have to be completed, she could just go into her menu and skip it. Elizabeth could skip going to the estate and just run off to join this guild. It was pretty tempting. But the teenager wanted to get the full Frozen Hearts experience that had been advertised to her.
With a determined glance, the brunette accepted the flier. “I'll have to think about it. I haven't really gotten to play much, I'm still in the tutorial mode.”
“Really?” The fox laughed, her voice full of disbelief. “How did you get this little guy then?” A furry finger was pointed at the sleeping ICE SLIME.
Elizabeth snuggled Pudding closer to her chest and blushed. “I ended up spending a while up in the mountains and came across a group of slimes. Pudding was there and became attached to me so I decided to keep him.”
The brunette knew it was odd to keep a slime instead of slaughtering it but she had grown attached to the baby rapidly. The goo puddle had been sweet as pie the entire walk and had stuck to her when they'd been attacked. She didn't want to just abandon Pudding after all that. As long as Elizabeth had Pudding by her side she'd take good care of the slime.
She wasn't interested in joining a guild that harmed her baby, so it was nice the fox woman was amused instead of cautious. But she wasn't sure that the girl's friends would be as welcoming to having a rather weak mob sleeping and eating their raw meat.
Pudding had eaten quite a lot already and the ICE SLIME would be rather hungry once she woke up from its tenth nap that day. Elizabeth pet its gooey head, her hand feeling slick from the texture of its small body.
“That's admirable. I'm sure Pudding will fit right in with my guild mates. Do you want to come with me to a pub to at least meet them?” The fox asked to which Elizabeth felt herself begin to hesitate.
It was a tempting offer but she wasn't too confident in her people skills. The woman saw that she was doubting herself and quickly swooped in. “They won't be a bunch of drunken brutes, I promise. We'll just pop our heads in and I'll have them explain in more detail. The pay, guild base, everything.”
“The pay?” This made Elizabeth's eyes light up.
The fox woman laughed and smirked. “Ah. That's usually the last part of the pitch.” She took out a pouch from her shorts pocket and showed it off.
[SELENE IS OFFERING YOU: x2500 COINS]
“So, we start off paying new recruits this amount then we increase as time goes on. If you join our guild, you get this first day even if you don't do a mission with us and leave. It helps motivate people. My idea of course.” Selene said with pride and held the bag of coins seductively in her face.
This was a mouthwatering deal to the brunette. She could bulk up on some coins by doing some missions and then dip if she didn't like it. Plus, Selene seemed pretty cool if she was being honest. The woman was her type and she was blushing more and more as they spoke.
From the way she came off the fox definitely had been playing for a while. Her outfit gave off the aura of someone who was in double digits if not triple level wise. Elizabeth had spoken to her real life friends the previous night and agreed to meet up with them.
But they weren't as serious about Frozen Hearts as she was. She was planning to play every hour she had free. They intended to play only when they had in-game events that would get them awesome gear and bonuses. They didn't have the same passion as she did and it made her feel awkward.
She felt like an outsider. But Selene and her guildmates would understand the urgency she felt to play. “I'll take the coins and go with you to the pub.”
A huge, canine filled grin spread on Selene's face. “Great! Let's get to it.”