[...On occasion, it may be used by tribes of Orcs or Dark Elves in order to capture and consume unsuspecting adventurers. EXTREME CAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED IF THIS FRUIT IS ENCOUNTERED OUTSIDE OF ITS NATURAL HABITAT]

Ryu wailed, pleading with the Dark Elf as she hoisted him onto her shoulder. “Don’t eat me!” he cried. “I’m only skin and bones! I don’t taste good!”

“Y-yeah! Me too, nya!” Aurora chimed in.

“What?! No way! Look at how soft you are! You’re prime barbecuing meat!” Ryu exclaimed.

“Wha?! How could you?! Serving me up to the enemy! I’ll remember this, nya!”

The Dark Elf spun around, grinding her teeth. “Quiet! Both of you! I can’t hear myself think over your inane bickering. I’m not going to eat you, alright?”

“Y-you're not?” Ryu said, meekly.

The Dark Elf’s eye twitched. “No, but I have half a mind to cut you up into little pieces and use you as bait for monsters.”

“W-why, nya?” Aurora blurted. “We’re very sorry about your berries miss—eh what was your name?”

“Sylfie,” the elf spoke curtly.

“Miss Sylfie, please spare me at least. Look at me! I’m just a harmless little creature. This fool ate your berries, not me! I told him it was a bad idea!”

Sylfie stopped walking, throwing Ryu and Aurora to the ground. “For crying out loud, do you two ever stop talking?”

“If it’ll get us out of being diced into monster bait, then yes,” Ryu answered.

Sylfie rolled her eyes, loosening the rope around them.

“T-thanks,” Ryu mumbled, sheepishly.

Aurora ran behind him, hissing at Sylfie as she crouched to meet them at eye level. “You two ruined my hunt, so now you’re going to work on repaying your debt to me.”

Ryu was confused. Her hunt? What was she talking about?

[This coveted berry can only be found in the Polar Expanse. It is often used as bait to lure in the Legendary Hibiscus Stag…]

Oh, that hunt.

“Do you know how hard it is to get those berries that you so shamelessly guzzled down, you glutton?”

Was everyone in this world compelled to insult him at every turn? Ryu shook his head.

“I had to traverse through kilometers of freezing tundra just to reach the caves where these fruits grow. It isn’t easy removing them from those caves, either. They’re guarded by packs of Snow-Tailed Ursas, and those animals are vicious!”

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“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know they were valuable until I ate one,” he explained.

Sylfie raised an eyebrow. “How did you not realize that? Even if you don’t have it recorded in your Knowledge Base, you should still know what Ivory Frost Berries are.”

“Hehe, see the funny thing is—”

“We’re not from here, nya. We’re from a foreign land!” Aurora interjected.

Sylfie’s eyes widened. “Really? Where from?”

“Uh,” Ryu looked at Aurora for confirmation. The cat shrugged her little shoulders. “We’re from Japan,” he answered.

“Ja-pan. I’ve never heard of such a place. Is it out in the countryside?”

“No, actually it’s an island nation in the far east.”

Sylfie nodded, understandingly. “Ah, that makes a lot more sense. This is the southern coast, so I can see why you wouldn’t be familiar with these berries. You two are a long way from home.”

Ryu chuckled. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Sylfie seemed to have calmed down, seeing as Ryu’s intentions weren’t malicious in nature. “So what brings you to the Wildlands? Are you an adventurer? You must be pretty strong to venture out here all by yourself.”

Sweat formed on Ryu's forehead. Before he could answer, Sylfie swiped his skill card from his pocket in the blink of an eye.

She looked shocked when she read it. “Wha—I don’t understand. [Level 0]? How are you even alive?”

“I’ve asked myself the same question many times since I got here,” Ryu sighed. He pointed to Aurora. “This cat got me lost in this place. We were chased by a giant dog in Hades’—”

“The Cerberus?! How did you manage that? Do you have some sort of hidden skill?”

Ryu shook his head. “Like I said, we got lost and ran away from the mutt when it showed up.” He spoke in a casual manner, though he puffed his chest out.

Aurora rolled her eyes.

“Still, that’s amazing you survived. The Cerberus is known to torture its prey, sometimes keeping them alive for days on end as it snacks on their limbs.”

Ryu clutched his arms. He felt like crying, picturing the terrible fate that would have awaited him if he had been caught.

“Hmm, you’ve acquired a really useful skill here.”

“Oh, you mean [Swift Foot]?”

Sylfie nodded. “Agility skills are important in maintaining stamina and evading attacks from enemies with higher-level skills and abilities than you.”

“Aurora mentioned something like that.”

“Once you get into more dangerous areas, enemy base stats are going to increase, including speed. If you use this skill properly you could clear some early-level dungeons quite quickly,” she said.

Ryu was intrigued by the mention of dungeons. World of Glory contained dungeons that players could party up for in teams of six called ‘raid teams’. He wondered if the dungeons here operated similarly. Was the loot inside based on random number generation, RNG? Or perhaps it handed out a predetermined set of rewards?

He opened his mouth to ask Sylfie when she suddenly pushed him down, placing a hand over his mouth. Ryu thought to scream, thinking she had decided to finish him off anyways, but he stopped himself when she placed a finger to her lips with a serious expression. He ceased his struggle, laying still while attempting to figure out what she had sensed.

Aurora’s ears pricked up. The cat’s hair stood on end as she pressed her body low to the ground searching for something.

Sylfie’s eyes scanned the area around them as she notched an arrow in her bow. The forest was silent, yet something had alerted them of a potential danger lurking in the shadows. Sylfie drew the string of her bow back, calmly pinpointing her target. A sudden rustle of leaves, caused her to snap to the side, loosing an arrow. A solid thunk! preceded a terrible low roar that reverberated deep within Ryu’s bones.

Every muscle tensed as he viewed the horror that charged at them from an upside-down perspective. He screamed when it appeared, trampling through the forest and knocking down trees like they were dominoes. He tried to wriggle out from under Sylfie to no avail. Her mind was focused elsewhere and she paid him no heed. With nowhere to run, Ryu covered his eyes, cursing his luck. From behind the leaves emerged a demonic stag covered in foliage and pink flowers, roaring with murderous intent.