I've never been this far from the edge of town. Damage limits have been removed. I didn't know there was such a thing. I'm on the north road. I frequently do my running training up here. I already passed the first farms and cows. Slowing down. I'm feeling a bit better. That bit with my away character and the shop staff was creepy. Before that, everything felt real. After those encounters, my world felt... off. Hollow. Separate. Echoes.

Somehow seeing the cows at the farm is reassuring. I stop and look at them a while. I wonder what they think about. I'm glad they can't talk. Could I have a cow for my away character? It would be hard to get one up or down the stairs at the inn.

I wave at a farmer. He's standing out in his field. He's ignoring me. Looking up the road I see the farms to the right and trees to the left. A few characters walk by and head into the forest. [Super_Mike] and [GamrChick78] were on their nameplates. Maybe there's something interesting out in the trees. I start jogging to see if I can catch up with them.

"Hey, Super Mike. What's up?"

No response. I'm 20 feet past the tree line. Maybe he didn't hear me. The characters have stopped and equipped their weapons. I hear some noise in the shrubbery past them and 2 wolves jump out from the bushes and attack Super Mike and Gamer Chick.

I just stand here watching. It's so fast. Reminds me of fighter practice. So many system messages show up. [Super_Mike] hits [Wolf] for 6 damage. [Wolf] hits [GamrChick78]. I see hp bars over everyone's head. Mike's hp bar goes down faster than the others. I've never been in real combat and wonder if they'd mind if I helped out. Mike's hp bar flashes red, only a little left on it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

That's it. I'll see if I can help [Super_Mike]. I equip my sword and jump out between [Super_Mike] and his [Wolf].

[System: Wolf criticals Hashi for 83 damage.]

[System: Super_Mike hits Hashi for 13 damage.]

I hear [Super_Mike] say, "Sorry."

[System: Wolf criticals Hashi for 253 damage, you have died.]

Everything fades until only a ghostly scene is left. I see [Super_Mike] fall and a faded version of him appears standing, then it disappears.

[System: You may wait here for resurrection or respawn at your last bind point.]

[GamrChick78] falls and her ghost disappears. The wolves chew on their bodies a short while and then leave the way they came. It's quiet here. I think I'll hang out here a bit.

Nothing else happens. I think the word respawn and I'm back in my room at the inn. Everything looks normal. My clothes and my sword are gone. I've got some more. That was... exciting. So that's what people do when they go adventuring. Fight stuff, die, respawn, run out of town and do it again. I think that'll be fun, at least for a few rounds. I wonder if I should put on armor next time.

I equip the armor in my bag. I've never actually used my armor. [Leather breastplate], [Leather gloves],... Ok, I'm ready for another round. Sometime after leaving town, I stopped feeling creeped out. And then I died. Now I'm back again. No mess, No fuss.

After I leave the inn I started running north again. Townspeople, players, the edge of town, farms, cows, I run by them all. Watch out wolves!

I've arrived back where I died. No wolves here. There's my body. What?

I'm looking at my corpse. It's still where I fell. [Hashi's corpse]. But I'm still here. How can I be there and here? Shudder.

I inspect my body and find the stuff I'm missing: my clothes and my sword. After I get them, my corpse disappears. The system message refers to this as looting. My clothes look a bit damaged. I can fix that back in town.

I don't see any wolves. Here wolfie, wolfie, wolfie. 15 minutes of this and I don't find any wolves. Occasionally I see rabbits that run away from me. No wolves, though. I head back to town.