Eastlake was, perhaps unsurprisingly, sat on the western side of a large lake, and had a large contingent of fishermen that got up before the dawn in order to get out and get their catches in early. The following day Ted and Cam joined them, though they didn’t head towards the small pier, instead making their way out of the town and walking around the perimeter of the large waterhole.

Cam had briefed Ted on the lizaloths the night before, giving him an overview of what to expect if and when they found the creatures; the Mission he’d received the night before had been absolutely useless.

‘They’re like a furry crocodile, if that makes sense.’ Cam had said. ‘They’re quick, stay close to the floor, and their jaws are strong; if they get them closed around you, you’re in trouble. They’re mostly a sandy brown colour, which tends to hide well in the grassy sandy mud of the area.’

‘Any magic?’ Ted had asked, thinking of the fiery deer from the previous week.

‘Arguably they’re supernaturally fast. They also look a bit weird. But no, nothing out of the ordinary. They hunt in packs, normally going after marine life and birds, but they can wander close to towns and become dangerous; these ones probably found the lake that Eastlake is on and decided they’d try out a fisherman if they couldn’t get a fish. Though thankfully they’ve not got that close yet.’ Cam had explained.

They walked side by side along the top of the banks of the lake, a natural rise as opposed to anything man made. Ted found himself noticing again just how undeveloped so many of these places were; coming from the UK where the closest thing you could get to true wilderness were the southern moors, or maybe parts of the Scottish Highlands, where there were still paved paths and Land Rovers all over the shop. Here, it really was rural; it felt like you could pick a direction, walk five miles, and no one might ever find you again.

He was walking holding the spear that Cam had been carrying in his wagon, but no other weapons or armour; his green army fatigues his only clothing apart from the dimensional bag that Cam had bought him. In the bag he did have two potions; a health and a mana potion, but that was all. He did not feel ready at all, though he had practised quickly accessing and withdrawing potions from the bag using the inventory menu. It took some effort but he could just about manage multitasking accessing the CPS menus, reaching into the bag, and moving or walking, all at the same time, though it did feel a little like the tricky patting his head and rubbing his stomach thing that used to be a test for something or other back home.

One thing that did make him feel slightly less anxious was Cam walking next to him, looking more warlike than Ted had ever seen him. Cam had two wicked looking daggers in sheathes on his waist, and was actually wearing armour, a leather jerkin and some hide trousers that looked like they could take a hit or two. On Cam’s prompting he'd used his Identify and Magic Sensing Techniques to find that not only did the armour look good, they were actually enchanted; with what, Ted wasn’t quite sure.

‘Shouldn’t I have some armour?’ Ted asked, looking again with envy at Cam’s ensemble.

‘Probably, my friend.’ Cam said. ‘The lizaloths have a nasty bite.’

‘Well… shouldn’t we go back so I can get some?’ Ted suggested.

‘The shops won’t be opening for hours yet; we can go this afternoon.’ Cam replied.

‘I may have been eaten by the lizard sloths by then.’ Ted pointed out.

‘Well we won’t go if that happens.’ Cam said. He grinned at the expression on Ted’s face. ‘You’ll be fine. The lizaloths are fast, but you are faster, and skilled enough that they shouldn’t really threaten you. I’m in this gear more out of habit, than necessity. And the fact it looks good.’

‘It does look good.’ Ted admitted. ‘I do feel like I should get some armour, but I’ve been thinking that it’s silly to buy stuff that I assume the army is going to kit me out with for free?’

‘Yee-es.’ Cam said slowly. ‘You will be provided with gear. Whether it’s the best gear is debatable. As a GateKeeper I’d like to think you’d be getting some good quality stuff, but I can’t promise anything.’

‘They just send everyone out in random stuff?’ Ted asked, showing surprise before correcting himself. ‘Why am I still asking these questions? Of course they do. We probably get given red noses and oversized shoes to run in, I’m guessing?’

Cam laughed. ‘No, you’ll get standard issue combat gear, but you may not be the first user, and it may not be in the best… state. So there may well be better stuff around. Some things seem to be universal. They won’t make you ditch your gear if it’s better than or equivalent, as long as it fits requirements.’

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

‘So, I should get some armour? Do I have enough money?’ Ted asked.

‘We’ll take a look when we’re next in a large city. Eastlake is not the place to buy anything. Except freshwater fish. Which, actually, we will buy some of, as I have a great recipe for a hot pot.’ Cam said.

‘Great.’ Ted replied.

They continued walking round the edge of the lake, occasionally finding small patches of skinny trees close to the shoreline. It took about thirty minutes for the city to be nearly out of sight, though looking across the lake he could see many boats sat with the nets spread out into the water. It was a beautiful sight, matching anything he’d seen on earth.

Though, frankly, what with there being magic in this world, it should be managing that easily. There should be dragons.

‘Are there dragons here, Cam?’ Ted asked.

‘No. Well, maybe.’ Cam said, in a low tone. ‘Hush now, we’re coming close. Use your Magic Sensing. And Aura.’

They were stood out in the open, in a small dip in the slowly rolling hilly banks of the edge of the lake. There was nothing that he could see, either by the water, or on the muddy, grassy hillocks either side of them. Ted focused on using the Technique, extending his senses out, trying to see what Cam had noticed, first with Magic Sensing, then with Aura Sensing. He sensed nothing beyond Cam and the basic, static background magic.

‘Can’t sense a thing.’ he said, looking around. Cam looked at him flatly.

‘Sorry!’ Ted said, this time in a whisper. ‘Can’t sense a thing.’

‘They’re nearby.’ Cam said, keeping his voice low. ‘Stay low, stay quiet.’

Cam crouched low, but continued moving, using his hands now to support his movements as he went in a swift, smooth bear-crawl up the hill. Ted followed, a lot less gracefully, finding his muscles screaming after the first twenty metres of uphill climb. This must fall under Stealthy Manoeuvres, not Agile ones, he thought to himself. He was basically an acrobat with his Agile Manoeuvres at Level 12; there was no way he would be struggling so much if it fell under that area.

They reached the peak of the low rise, and Cam’s low crouch shifted until he was lying prone on the floor. Ted followed suit, then crawled forward until he was level with the other man. In front of them, about a dozen metres away, Ted could see what looked like several large, dark brown, furry lumps.

‘So what do we do?’ Ted asked, as quietly as he could, suddenly hyper aware of the danger in front of them. Furry crocodiles sounded fun when you were a few miles away, but even from this distance he was getting a vicious sense of violence coming from them. He wondered if that was an actual part of their aura, and focused on using his Aura Sensing. This time he actually could feel something, though nothing specific; just a feeling of speed, power and malevolence, emanating from the group of beasts in front of him.

‘There are five of them.’ Cam said, in a low voice. ‘If there had been three or less I’d have let you take them yourself, but as it stands… I’ll take a couple of them out, leave you the rest.’

‘We’re just going to kill them?’ Ted asked.

‘Well, yes. They’re attacking travellers, Ted. What else would you suggest?’ Cam said. There was a rare usage of Ted, instead of ‘my friend’ which helped Ted realise how seriously Cam was taking the situation.

‘I guess I’m not used to just killing things.’ Ted said. ‘It’s not the standard response where I come from.’

‘The Vietnam Zoos Association hasn’t quite made it out here yet. Dangerous animals get dealt with more… simply in the Second World.’ Cam said. ‘I’ll take out the first two; the final three are for you. Okay?’

‘Okay…’ Ted said.

That was all Cam needed to hear. He exploded into action, moving from prone to crouch in a heartbeat, moving from crouch to sprint in a second one. Ted watched, disbelieving, as Cam covered the distance between them and the lizaloths faster than an Olympic sprinter, drawing his dual blades and flipping them to point down as he leapt into the air while he was still several metres away.

The lizaloths didn’t even have time to move before he landed in amongst them in a knee down crouch, superhero style, his two daggers thrust down either side of him.

There was a microsecond of absolute silence, as Ted stared, mouth open. He climbed to his feet to better see what was going on; the small Vietnamese man surrounded by three weird, alligator sized platypus-seal monsters, powerful and violent. And two dead ones.

Then it was chaos, as the lizaloths started emitting a loud, piercing yelping noise, like angry violent seals.

‘That’s two down!’ Cam called, standing up and glancing back at Ted. ‘Rest are yours!’

He leapt forward over the bodies of the lizaloths he’d killed, landing on his hands and springing forward again to land on his feet. Then he took off at speed, running in the opposite direction. The lizaloths had erupted into chaos, leaping up into the air, keening and snarling, looking for something to attack. Cam had gone.

Somehow, they sensed Ted, standing a dozen or so metres away.

As a pack, they started moving towards him. Fast.