Fang, wanting to know a bit more about the Purple Rabbit's Commoner, the boss of the rabbits in the area, asked the party if they knew anything about it.
"The only information we got from Ike was that we would recognize the boss when we see it, sugar" Golden Goose told him.
"I believe this boss battle will be a hard one so we should prepare for it" Kirk said with a calm tone.
"Preparations?" questioned Fang.
"Maybe you didn't notice but there is food in the game, which buffs you. You probably saw the starting food in your inventory" was Black Tooth mocking answer.
Indeed, after losing himself in this realistic VR world, Boeros had forgotten about the stuff the game had started him with.
[Elven Bread]
[Grey-Common]
[Tastes bad. When eaten : +1 to all stats for one in-game hour]
[Water Gourd]
[Grey-Common]
[It's water. When drunk : +1 Mana Regeneration/sec ]
"So this is what they were talking about" he thought.
After this small discussion, the party continued toward their location, going deeper and deeper in the forest while sharing their thoughts on the game. On their way, the saw a few white rabbits which were, strangely enough, avoiding them. After a bit, Fang, like the first time, noticed that the vegetation was slowly getting less abundant. Knowing that they would soon encounter the ennemies, he asked Golden Goose if they were planning to fight now. Since she was also feeling that they were getting closer to the fight, she answered :
"Sugar, we've actually been on the game for a full 16 hours so we would love to take a few hours off."
"How about we meet back, right about here, in three hours, does this work for you sweeties?" she then asked the party.
Both Kirk and Black Tooth nodded and with that, the three of them disappeared into thin air, letting only a few light particules behind. Not wanting to go back the real world immediately, Boeros decided to stay in the game for a bit. Then, Fang started to train his Earthen Shard to understand and control it with more dexterity. He drank water from a Water Gourd while thinking that the game was truly realistic : he felt the water going down through his throat and even got a refreshed feeling afterwards. After practicing his Earthen Shard for about an hour, he suddenly had a feeling as if he understood the spell better and, simultaneously, a notification popped-up.
Stolen story; please report.
[You have gotten a new understanding of the Earthen Shard spell]
[Earthen Shard (LVL.2)]
[Grey-Uncommon]
[Attack Power : Intelligence + 3]
[Has a 10% to stun small creatures]
"We can upgrade spells by training ?! How fascinating." he pondered. Weirdly, this breakthrough had been very tiring for Fang. Also wanting to share this new information he got, he logged off to go write on the forum.
***
Coming out of his capsule, he went to the fridge and got some leftovers before going back to sit on his gaming chair. After opening the forums and taking a look, Boeros was stunned. His post, "The Guide To The
Recovering from the surprise and seeing all this positive feedback, Boeros decide to write his second post, "The Guide To Leveling Your Spells". After having related his experience on the training and breakthrough of his Earthen Shard, he posted the article, hoping this one would also make waves. The reason for this hope was that Fang noticed that he could monetize these articles, possibly making a lot of money later on.
Finally Boeros did a few push-ups and sit-ups before going back to his capsule. After getting greeted by the game A.I., Fang saw the others and joined them. They all prepared by eating the Elven Bread and drinking from the Water Gourd.
"Here sugar, take some of these healing potions I got from our last Quest" Golden Goose suddenly said while handing Fang some small red potions.
[Healing Potion (x3)]
[Grey-Common]
[Heals for 10, has a cooldown of three minutes]
"Is everyone ready for the raid ?" asked Golden Goose with her sweet voice. Fang, Black Tooth and Kirk nodded.
"Let's go and kill these monsters then !" she exclaimed, seemingly having gone from a gentle figure to a murderous one in a second. She then ran head first towards the rabbits, while brandishing her gigantic sword, which looked like a heap of raw iron.
The purple rabbits were very different from the white ones that Fang saw before, while the white rabbits only seemed a bit monster-like with their feature, the purple rabbits could hardly be called rabbits anymore. Their purple fur didn't seem hard and reflected the sun's light, while their temperament was truly a sight to see. They jumped and ran rapidly from a bush to another devouring everything. The second that Golden Goose cleaved near one of them, they also regrouped very fast. The only good thing that came out of this initial assault was that the Purple Rabbit's Commoner wasn't anywhere to be seen.
After seeing the rabbits regroup, the rest of the party ran to reach Golden Goose position and they assumed a basic formation. Golden Goose was at the front, Black Tooth behind and the two Magicians at the back. Fang also profited of the opportunity to inspect the rabbits.
While they didn't have much more HP than the white ones, Fang wasn't surprised since these rabbits seemed far more intelligent and they didn't seem like they would let themselves get killed easily.
Fang started the assault with a well-positioned Earthen Shard, which he sent towards the closest purple rabbit.
-12
[The target is now stunned for 3 seconds]
Before he could rejoice at the power of his spell, something weird happened, when the rabbits saw him they started to tremble and run away. Immediately, he received this notification.
[The target is feeling intense fear, stunned effect wears off]
While the rest of his party looking at him weirdly, Fang decided it would be best to remove the shoulder guard that all the rabbits were looking at in fear. "What a truly useless piece of gear", he thought, unhappy.
After removing it, the rabbits went back to their normal fierce gazes and the fight truly began.