They spent the next three days training in that little cavern; only leaving occasionally to return to town and buy some supplies. The skeletons, that served as their moving targets, had a chance of dropping a short bronze sword, a steel dagger, and a small amount of gold.
Although Nixie assured Aquila there was nothing to worry about – he was slightly intimidated by the skeletons, so Slie was the one who would go into the next room, cross the bridge and pick up the drops every ten to twenty minutes; while Nixie healed him, negating any damage from the skeletons. In fact she was insistent that he take his time. She didn’t get to train her healing magic – except for the few times that Slie crossed to collect the loot.
The spoils from the skeletons got divvied up between them (though Aquila had a feeling that Slie was giving him the greater share). It wasn’t much – but Aquila sold the loot to the blacksmith, and it provided him with enough money to buy arrows and do it all over again.
For those three days that little training cavern was their home. They even slept there, and they didn’t even set a watch. Nobody knew about this place, and there was only one entrance, so there was a low chance that anyone would actually try to sneak up on them. All Slie had to do was cast alarm on the ladder at the entrance. Aquila was surprised when Nixie laid out three bedrolls in their small little room.
‘I thought we only had two?’ Aquila remarked.
Darkness had now set over the land. A warm little fire created bright light, and shadows that danced in the corners of the room.
‘I bought a third one while we were at the camping shop,’ Nixie said.
‘But,’ Aquila protested, ‘you already gave me your token of teleportation. And well…you didn’t have to.’
‘You’re part of the team now. If you ever leave us to find your friends, then you can pay me back. But for now, what’s ours is yours.’
Aquila almost expected Slie to protest; and tell her not to speak on his behalf. But he didn’t.
‘Thanks,’ Aquila replied.
‘Don’t mention it.’
***
Aquila woke up refreshed and energetic the next day. He was beginning to see what Slie had meant about getting a good night’s sleep. Whenever he did, he felt nice and refreshed. He’d done a few all-nighters when he’d been alone in Novus Town, although he didn’t realise it at the time, looking back, he could see how lack of sleep had taken its toll. Plus, there really was a bonus for getting seven hours of sleep – it wasn’t just a theory, it literally appeared in his stats screen.
Nixie made them all bacon and eggs for breakfast, apparently her little cooker was quite versatile. It could fry, bake and stew. The food itself was delicious, the bacon was salty, and the eggs were cooked to perfection. Of course it wasn’t on par with players who focused on pure cooking, like Roselyn, but it was extremely satisfying food.
‘Are you ready to cast some healing spells today?’ Aquila asked Nixie as he shoved the last rash of bacon into his mouth and the plate disappeared from his hands.
‘Why? Are you planning on training your light-handed skill?’ Nixie asked
‘Yesterday you didn’t even want to go over there to pick up the drops,’ Slie teased.
‘I’m feeling better today!’ Aquila responded, ‘what do you think Slie. Want to join me?’
Aquila wasn’t sure if he was on a high because he’d increased his archery from level 3 to level 6 in a day, which was extremely quick for him, or he just felt comfortable in his present company. Maybe both. But one thing was for sure, he wanted to focus on his light-handed skill, and keep archery as his secondary skill – at least for the time being.
‘I’m going to keep going on this side,’ Slie replied, ‘I don’t think it will work well if we have two people over there. But if you’re going to go, you’ll need some better gear. There’s a difference between popping over there for a few minutes to grab a couple of things, and staying there for hours. Those skeletons will slice right through you; even with Nixie’s healing. This is a loan by the way. It’s not much, but it’s better than what you have.’
Slie opened up a trade window and gave him a light bronze chainmail, leather leggings, and a ring of minor protection. The new equipment doubled his defence, which wasn’t really saying much – because his defence had only been 4 before donning Slie’s armour.
Aquila left their little room and found himself back in the sewer-like dungeons. He navigated through the passage until he found another door that was rotten, torn and almost falling from its hinges. He almost expected it to fall apart when he pushed it forward. The door led to a room that was almost identical to the one they had been training in, except there was a narrow bridge that crossed the gap in the ravine. Aquila had always been bad at following directions – but he assumed that he had gotten Nixie’s directions right, because after passing the bridge, and following a path that twisted and turned, he finally opened a door to see a skeleton facing him; and was quickly met with a rapid sword swing aimed at his face. Aquila jumped back in freight, avoiding the blow and then reached forward and slammed the door shut.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
He began pacing awkwardly in front of the door, wondering what he should do. A message appeared in front of him a moment later.
Nixie_Pixie: just run in there. Trust me. I’ll heal you!
Aquila gulped. His vibrant confidence that had him bouncing just a few minutes ago had no worn off.
‘Okay…’ he pushed the door open, closed his eyes and ran inside without even thinking. When he opened his eyes he saw a sword swing flying at him. He tried to pull back, but he had reacted much too late, and the sword slashed him across the face. His health dropped by 4. But almost at the same time, a red glow appeared around him, and his health bar began regenerating.
He looked around. Nixie and Slie stood in the room opposite him, Slie with his bow out, sending arrows flying, and Nixie had her hands pointed towards him – they shone with a red glow. As Aquila made eye contact with her, she gave him an encouraging smile, and then a nod. Aquila felt his spirits rise a little.
Aquila turned and pointed his sword at the skeletons; there were only three there instead of the usual five. Slie must have already taken out two; it could take them anywhere between two to six minutes to respawn. But even so, he was still overwhelmed with attacks. The skeletons were clueless and placid when they had no enemies to lock onto, but they were savage, and incredibly fast when players were within striking distance. Several swords swung at him at once, Aquila tried to pull back, and actually managed to avoid two sword swings, though the third cut through his torso.
‘Don’t worry – I’ve got you!’ Nixie called, reassuring him, ‘just focus on offense!’
With one hand still glowing red and pointed at Aquila, Nixie held her other hand up in the air. A blue orb appeared in her palm. She thew it at Aquila, it swirled around him and sparkled before disappearing. A text appeared under his health bar.
Divine Grace.
Nixie’s manna bar dropped significantly after casting that spell. Clearly whatever she had just done had been extremely taxing. But Nixie quickly pulled a manna potion from her quickselect menu, and chugged it down to bring her manna bar back to full.
Aquila didn’t know it at the time, but divine grace was a spell that protected a player from death. If a player under the effects of ‘divine grace’ dropped below 0hp, the spell would activate automatically and would restore 20 hitpoints, though the spell itself would expire. It also only lasted for five hours, but it was a good way to ensure Aquila didn’t die if something went horribly wrong.
Aquila followed Nixie’s advice; rather than trying to dodge all the sword swings, he began attacking. His health gradually dropped, but because of Nixie’s healing, it continued to refill steadily, thankfully faster than it was actually disappearing. That didn’t stop Aquila from consuming a few food items when the skeletons occasionally landed a critical hit. Had he known about the effects of divine grace, he might have thought to conserve his supplies.
Between his attacks, and Slie’s shooting, they managed to wear the skeletons down so that there were usually only two spawned at a time. This made it easier to avoid the skeleton’s blows, meaning Nixie didn’t need to constantly heal him, and he wasn’t constantly filled with anxiety thinking about the state of his health bar. Not only that, but the longer he spent fighting the skeletons, the more he got used to the patterns of their attacks. Needless to say, at the end of the second day, Aquila’s confidence was as high as it had been in the morning. After a hearty dinner, and a bustling conversation full of stories, jokes and laughs, Aquila got the best sleep he’d gotten since he’d joined the game.
During the third day, Aquilia swapped back and forth between training his light weapon skills, and his ranged attacks. Nixie, by this point, had explained the effects of divine grace, so Aquila wasn’t as panicked about his health dropping to zero.
‘You’ll be fine,’ she assured him with an energetic thumbs up, ‘just get over there and keep swinging.’
‘Yeah, he’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t fall off the ravine,’ Slie added.
Slie had meant it as a joke, but to Aquila it was actually a valid concern. It was just a natural reaction to jump backwards whenever one of the skeleton’s swords swung at him – and sometimes he didn’t really ever think about how close he was to the edge of the ravine.
***
After three days of training, Aquila managed to increase his light-handed weapon skill to level 8. But Aquila wasn’t the only one to increase his level. Nixie’s healing magic also rose by quite a few levels, bringing her up to a total combat level of 8, the same level as Aquila. Slie reached a total combat level of 10 – it wasn’t as much of an improvement as Aquila, levelling up took much longer the higher you were, but it was still something.
The three of them sat around the campfire on the night of the third day, the pale moonlight was visible as it shone down through the crack in the ravine, and the skeletons on the other side wandered about eerie and silent, with bright glowing eyes.
‘I think we’re done here,’ Slie said, ‘we can only train against low-levelled mobs for so long, and I think Aquila’s at an adequate level to be able to defend himself.’
‘I don’t know…? We are going to The Lonely Plains after all. It’s supposed to be dangerous. Remember those two level ten players who told us three of their members died out there?’
‘It’s not as dangerous if you stick to the road. Those guys were idiots, and were running around god-knows-where deep within the Lonely Plains. Asphodel is barely on its outskirts.’
‘I’m inclined to agree,’ Aquila said, ‘about the levelling thing. We can only get so far here. I also think we’re better off getting hold of this counterspell sooner, rather than later. I’m sure it will be fine if we’re careful.’
‘I suppose…’ Nixie replied apprehensively.
There wasn’t too much more conversation after that. Nixie was adamant that if they were going to head out then they needed to get as much sleep as they could. The three of them rolled out their bedrolls around the fire, after eating a quiet supper, and pretty much went straight to sleep.
The night passed quietly; and peacefully for the most part. Though Aquila had to admit – it was slightly unnerving waking up at midnight to see nothing but the glowing eyes of the skeletons in the dark room opposite him. Slie’s snores were oddly comforting. It was a reminder that he wasn’t completely alone. He could also feel Nixie’s presence on his other side, even though she slept much quieter.
The next day they did exactly as they had discussed. They left the cavern, placing the boulder back over the manhole, returned to the Town of Crossings to by some supplies, and were on the road before noon. The Western road, that led out of the Town of Crossings snaked through the blissful fields until it disappeared from sight.
‘Enjoy the view,’ Slie said to him, ‘it won’t last much longer.’