Obviously, I could just stand on a corner and start yelling at players to join me in a party, but it was much faster to simply join an existing one. Usually parties in other MMORPGs are composed of three types of players, the damage dealers who can dish out high amount of damage in a short a amount of time, the tank who gets the enemy’s attention and take the damage instead of his team, and lastly the supports, they stay behind since they are pretty soft and help the team by casting support spells like heal or buffs. Since I did quite a bit of damage back then on that wild boar, I consider myself as a damage dealer. Now I just need someone who can tank and someone who can assist the team.

I start to look around for a party that I can join. Walking towards the exit of village since that is where a lot of players stand by and look for party members. Fair enough, there were a lot of players trying to recruit people into their party.

“We need someone who can do some damage!!” One player was yelling out to people.

“We got a tank and a healer! Loots will be shared evenly!” Another player was trying entice others with shared loots.

“Need a party to go on a gathering quest in Fallo forest.” A female player also yelled out. Though gathering quests are kinda boring, it could still get pretty dangerous since monsters can attack you at anytime.

Some players, together with their party members, were already leaving the safety of the village. I should really find my own party soon if I am ever gonna progress in the game. I decided to approach a player who needed a damage dealer in his team.

The player that I chose was wearing what seemed to be leather armor. He also had a leather helmet on him that covered his bald head. His eyes were green and sharp, as if his glare alone can make even the manliest of men run away like a couple of pansies. He was carrying a shield around just wide enough to cover half of his body. There on his waist was a sword resting in its scabbard.

“Uh hey, I hear you are looking for someone who can do so damage.” I asked him as I gave him a little wave with my right hand to greet him.

Behind the guy was a short girl carrying a short staff. She has short blue hair and eyes of matching color. She wore a robe of white, but it was slightly different than Jeanne's. Hers is more ragged and faded. I guess it is the basic starting gear for mages.

“Ahh I take it you can do some damage with that lump of iron of yours then?” The bald man said, looking towards me.

“Yeah, I tried to hunt alone earlier but that didn't work out so well.” I added as the man laughed.

“Haha..! I see,” he gave a slight smile before continuing,“ well the name’s Gargon, but you can call me Gon.” He introduced himself and then moved away to show the girl from earlier.

“This one is Lala. She's gonna be our support in this party.” He introduced her as well and she gave a slight bow. For some reason, she wasn't talking much. Maybe she's just a tad shy and I think that's kinda cute. Her physique suits her personality.

“Hi there Gon and Lala,” I greeted them with a smile and continued, “ I am Aiken. It's a pleasure guys.”

“Same here, Aiken.” Gon replied while offering me a handshake and I accepted it by shaking his hand.

“S-same here A-Aiken!” She also tried to offer her hands which was kinda small and I decided to pet her head instead. Lala pouted and blushed and she looked so cute!

“Well anyway regarding the loot. We will decide together who gets the monster item drops. And as for the zecos, we’ll split it evenly between ourselves. If ever it's uneven, we let our little Lala here have it. Okay?” Gon added as I nod in agreement but Lala seems flustered about her getting the extra Zeco.

“E-eh? T-thats not fair.. You guys can have it.. “ she tried to insist on not having the extra Zeco and Gon and I shook our heads in disagreement.

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“B-but..”

“No buts Lala.” Gon cut her off before she could finish and Lala once again pouted. Ygge! How can such a little girl be so cute! Of course don't get me wrong I'm not into little girls.

“Alright so now that's settled.. Let's go make some money!” He yelled out enthusiastically and raised his fist up.

“Yeah!” me and Lala also yelled out in unison while doing the same pose as Gon. And then we set out to start hunting some beasts.

When I asked about their levels, Gon was about level three and Lala was two. That made me the underdog since I am still only level one. And then I realize I still have no idea how to level up so I asked Gon.

“Hey Gon, how do you even level up in this game?” I asked him curiously and he just gave me a confident smile.

“Well you actually gain level by being blessed by a priest, but you need to spend Zecos and depending on your level the Zeco will increase.” he explained to me in details and I immediately understood.

“I see..” I nodded, not only does Zeco purchase items, weapons and armors but the levels.

“What about the stat points?” I continued to ask him.

“Well for each level up you get five points for you to use.” He answered once again. Well at least the game gives the players enough points to get stronger. He would check with Jeanne regarding this leveling system though.

“So what are we hunting..?” Lala asked and I simply shrugged my shoulders. Besides it is Gon’s call anyway since he is the party leader.

“Well since our levels are pretty low so we can't go for a higher level monsters or even try a boss. So the best decision would be to continue hunting some low level monsters until we all reach level five so that we can hunt the Great Boar for materials.” Gon replied and Lala and I agreed to his choice. So we went to hunt a wild boar.

“Alright here's the plan, I'll distract the beast and take on it's charge attack. Once I successfully block it Aiken you go for the hit and immediately back away since the boar will always swing it’s head after he takes damage. If you get hit back away and let Lala heal you. We’ll just repeat this process, got it?”

“Yeah” I nodded.

“Mhmm!” Lala agreed.

After that briefing we found ourselves a boar and we immediately got into position. Gon was up front and I was behind him while Lala was all the way in the back giving us support.

The boar faced us and shook its head. Gon held up his shield waiting for it to attack and the boar starts to paw the ground before charging at Gon.

Gon was able to successfully block the attack so that means that he probably increased his BP. After the attack was blocked, it looks like the boar is stunned from his fail charge. I quickly went to its side to slam down my blade on it.

Once again my attack did a critical damage again. Seems like attacking a stunned target will always result in a critical strike. I immediately rolled away from the boar as it swung its head towards me. Luckily I evaded the attack and when the boar got distracted by me, Gon strikes his sword at the boar.

<-13>

Gon then backed away from the boar trying to put some distance between him and it. He then started banging his shield with his sword and it drew its attention. It started to paw the ground again and charged at Gon. He once again blocked the attack successfully and so I attacked the boar a second time.

I guess stamina regenerates pretty slowly. No wonder its difficult to solo monsters since low regeneration of stamina meant vulnerability. But that didn't stop me from doing another critical hit.

But I wasn't able to dodge in time this time and the boar was able to hit  with his tusk. The attack threw me back a little and I could feel my body getting tired and the pain on my left arm.

<-15>

“A-Aiken!” Lala called out and ran towards me. She then placed her hands on my back and started to chant a spell to heal my wounds.

“Oh God of Life Fritz, please mend the wounds of this one and help him stand up once more to fight.. Heal!” Lala chanted as warm light started to envelope my body and the pain was slowly going away.

<+12!>

“Thanks a lot Lala! I feel much better now.” I thanked her as I pat her on the head. I then returned to battle as Gon while was distracting the boar just to give us time to heal up.

“About time Aiken! Come on!” Gon roared while blocking the boar with his shield before bashing it on the head stunning it.

<-7!>

I then quickly ran up to it to swing down my great sword. We repeated the same tactics over and over again, and eventually the boar went down. As its body lay there, Gon sheathed a knife on his back and started to skin the boar. After a couple of seconds he is finished and handed us some items he got from the beast.

“Always remember to skin the beast that you slay, we got lucky this time this one gave quite a lot of materials.” Gon said as I accepted the items and Zeco he gave me.

So that was what I got from our first hunt and it made me wonder how much level two would cost. But I shrugged the thought off as we continued to hunt a bit more.

“Next beast we slay, Aiken will skin it.” Gon added.

_____

Hey guys UunimporantCurry here. I hope you guys enjoyed the read.

Anyways I'll appreciate it if you rate my work. And I give my thanks to a certain someone doing proof reads for me. 

Once again thanks!

-Curry