CHAPTER 3 - BECOMING A PARTY

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Favrielle opened her eyes to feel the sun shining on her face. She sat up and her long green hair swept over her back. She looked around the room she was in. It was a small room that had a bed, dresser, and a window. So it wasn't a dream, she actually was in a virtual world. Favrielle swept her legs off the side of the bed and stood up. She walked over to the dresser and pulled out the level 5 armour she got yesterday. The armor was light and thin, but she could feel the hardness of the level 5 steel. Favrielle put on the armour, which was easy to put on , and shook Juno and Jupiter awake. 

The two slimes woke up and looked at their owner. Juno squeaked and Jupiter copied her. Favrielle smiled to see two balls of cuteness. She let Jupiter and Juno hop on her head as she took her bag (which was stuffed with all the stuff she got) and left the room. She walked down the hall and entered the tavern common room which already had a few customers. Favrielle walked up to the counter where Randall had a plate of pancakes on the table.

Favrielle reached over to grab the plate. "Thanks, you know exactly what I want to eat in the morning."

 Randall moved the plate away from her hands and snorted. "Good morning to you too."

 "Good morning." Favrielle gave him her brightest smile. "Now about the pancakes..."

 "They're for me," a voice said from behind.

Favrielle turn to see the elf from yesterday who she promised a slime. The elf's eyes widened in recognition and she gave her a small smile. "So we meet again." The elf looked over at Randall. "I'll pay for anything she wants to order."

 Not skipping a beat, Randall nodded and walked into the kitchen without taking her order. Favrielle didn't say anything and hoped that he went to get her something to eat. 

The elf gestured for Favrielle to follow her as she walked to her table. Favrielle followed her and took the chair across from her. Juno hopped unto the table and Jupiter followed her.

The elf swooned when she saw Juno and Jupiter on the table. "You got another one already? Yesterday, I heard that you had a pet auction. How do you tame pets so fast?"

Favrielle was surprised to hear that news of her beast taming had spead out that much. "When I went to get your slime, I picked up a few others. All the ones that were sold yesterday were extras." She picked up Jupiter and placed him in front of the elf. "Here, for you."

The elf squealed as she picked up Jupiter and gave him a big hug. The slime blinked at her and squeaked. The elf looked up and smiled at her. " Thank you. I'm Trixie."

 "Favrielle."

Trixie regarded her carefully. "What would you like in exchange for Juppie?"

 Favrielle faintly smiled at Trixie's nickname for Jupiter. She hadn't decided on what she wanted  as she had never been thinking about it. "Just paying for the meal is good enough."

 Trixie frowned and dismissed her idea. "I can't do just that. So many mages spent a couple thousand on one if these. There's no way that I'm getting one for free."

 Randall luckily came at that moment with their, saving Favrielle from answering. Trixie got her original order of pancakes while Favrielle got pancakes, two hash browns, 4 sausage links, 3 bacon strips, scrambled eggs, and a glass of orange juice.

Favrielle put down a mental note to thank Randall for the big meal as she began to eat. Trixie finished her pancakes before her and was waiting for her to finish eating.

 "What level are you on?" Trixie suddenly asked.

 Favrielle paused. "Level 2."

 "How about you join my party and level up in exchange for Juppie?"

 Favrielle tilted her head and considered what Trixie said. It would be nice to fight along side with someone who actually knew where challenging monsters were. And she wouldn't have to worry so much about getting in a bad situation.

"Alright." Favrielle agreed.

Favrielle dismissed all the notifications. She was surprised. She had only been in party for 5 seconds and she had gone up two levels. It seemed that this was a good choice.

            < Lancelot: Trixie, who is Favrielle?>

Favrielle closed the party chat and took a bite out of her hash browns. Juno hopped over and took one of her sausage links. The sausage link floated around in the slime for a few seconds before it disappeared.

"That's a good skill, Juno." Favrielle said as she rubbed the slime's head. Juno gave a loud squeak and Favrielle gave her another sausage link. Trixie stood up as soon as Favrielle finished her last plate. She dropped a pile of coins on the table and pulled her to her feet.

"We've wasted enough time here. Come on, hurry up!"

Favrielle waved goodbye to Randall as she followed the excited mage out of the tavern.

"I like your armor." Trixie said as they began walking to the weapons store.

"Thanks, It's the only armor I have. " She replied.

"Why is that? Armor isn't that expensive." Trixie said as her brows furrowed .

"I didn't have any money." Favrielle clarified.

Trixie looked confused as she gazed at her. "Then why didn't you log out buy some with real money?"

Favrielle froze momentarily , but recovered the next second. "I never thought of that."

Trixie didn't notice anything as they walked into the store. The game told her that the elf who owned the store was named Ferios. He was a handsome and tall elf with light hair.

The elf smiled at them as they entered. "Hello, what can I get for you?"

"Do you have any fire affinity wands?" Trixie asked as she looked around.

 Ferios' gaze looked distant as he said, "We have 3 wands that would be perfect for your level."

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Ferios reached behind the counter and pulled out three long wands. Favrielle left them there as she walked to the back of the store to find a bag. She found one that had 5,000 spaces and took it to the front where Trixie was paying for ger wand.

Trixie took the bag from her hand and gave it to Ferios. "I'll pay for this as well."

 "No need." Favrielle said as she took out 100g.

Trixie moved her hand to the side. "I already said that I'm going to pay for it."

Favrielle sighed and let Trixie pay for the bag. Trixie smiled as she handed the bag back to her. She wore an "I won" look on her face and Favrielle couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes. 

"Where are we going?" Favrielle asked as they walked out of the store.

"The eastern forest." Trixie said as she skipped around waving her wand. " The other members of our party are waiting there." Jupiter, who was on Trixie's head, squeaked and Trixie erupted into giggles.

Favrielle followed the giggling Trixie outside the village. She took out the level 7 daggers out of her bag. She was probably going to be a dual weilder, because she was left and right handed. Favrielle held the daggers in her hand and tried them out. 

"Great form!" Trixie praised. 

"Thanks." Favrielle said. She glaced over at Trixie. "Do you think your party members will be okay with me joining you all?"

Trixie snorted. "It dosen't matter if they like it or not. I'm the party leader, so I'm in charge."

 Favrielle shook her head as she began to feel sorry for the other party members. They finally reached a clearing where three people were waiting.

Trixie waved at them. "I'm back!"

 The three people looked over at them. There were two guys and one girl. As they came closer, Favrielle could tell that both of the guys were human and the girl was...a beast-kin.

 "Did you guys miss me?" Trixie asked. 

"You were only gone for a hour." One of the guys said. The guy who spoke had short cropped blonde hair and green eyes. He wore thick armor and had a lance in his hand.

Trixie pouted for three seconds before turning to the other guy. "Did you miss me, Rave?" She asked eagerly.

Rave barely glanced at her. "No." Rave had long black hair that was pulled into a ponytail. His eyes were an icy blue and he wore all black clothing.

Trixie sulked and Jupiter hopped into her embrace. "Your the only who cares about me, Juppie." Trixie said as she rubbed her face on Jupiter's body.

Favrielle stood there awkwardly as 3 gazes met hers. She gave a small wave. "Hi, I'm Favrielle."

"You don't look like a beast tamer." The guy with blonde hair said as he gazed at her in a disapproving way.

"Uh..." Favrielle slightly frowned as she didn't know how she should reply.

The beast-kin girl elbowed the guy and gave her a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Favrielle. I'm Avel and this rude guy is Lancelot. The other guy is Rave and you've already met Trixie." Avel had bright orange hair and green eyes. Her skin looked alot like a leopard's and she had leopard ears on her head and a long tail. She wore green mage robes and carried a thick wooden staff that had a green orb as a centerpiece.

"It's nice to meet you all." 

Avel nodded and she squinted at Favrielle's head. "Is that a slime?" She asked.

Favrielle nodded as she took Juno off her head. "This is Juno, she's my pet."

Trixie, who had at some point stopped sulking, grinned as she said. "And this is my pet, Jupiter!"

Rave glanced at her. "Weren't you sulking?"

Trixie rolled her eyes at him. "Of course I wasn't. You must be seeing things."

Rave rose an eyebrow and Trixie turned back to the conversation. "Anyway, as party leader, I say that our newest mission is to level up."

Lancelot frowned. "That's what we did all last week, can't we do something else?"

Trixie shook her head. "No. We're too low levelled compared to the other players. If any of them wanted to take something from us, we wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight."

"Speak for yourself." Avel muttered.

Trixie ignored her and took out her wand. "We're all going to try our best, alright?"

 No one answered her as she walked into the forest. Rave and Lancelot soon followed her and Favrielle took up the rear with Avel.

 "How long have you been playing?" Avel asked as she curiously regarded her.

 "About a day." Favrielle replied.

 "That's impressive." Avel said as she looked at Juno who was currently sitting on Favrielle's shoulder. 

 "What's impressive about that?" Favrielle asked.

 "Oh, nothing really. It's just your armor is level 5. My robes are only a level 3 and I've been playing for a week." Avel huffed .

 "Why is that?"

 "Trixie is very stingy about money. She says that we shouldn't buy useless things. But how are new robes use-" Avel suddenly stopped as she stared at Juno. "Why is your pet glowing?"

 Favrielle looked over at her shoulder. Juno was glowing a bright red. Juno suddenly hopped of her shoulder and hopped over towards a large thicket of trees.

 "Come back, Juno." Favrielle said as she ran after her pet.

 Avel looked at her companions, who were unaware of their falling behind, then the distant Favrielle. She sighed and chased after Favrielle.

                                         ***

Favrielle dismissed this notification as she finally spotted Juno. She panted for a few seconds before walking over to her pet.

"Why - did you - run away?" Favrielle asked as she panted.

The slime gave three squeaks and Favrielle followed her gaze to a huge moving slime behind a few trees. Without any warning, Juno turned into a hard ball and smacked up against the huge slime. Juno bounced off of the slime and a small hole formed where she hit it. The huge slime turned around and tired to smack the Juno away.

Favrielle couldn't standby as her pet was attacked, so she ran over and pushed Juno away before she was smacked. Unfortunately, Favrielle was hit with the attack instead and She felt something crack inside her. Favrielle forced herself to stand up and she took out her daggers. There was a slim possibility that she was actually going to survive so decided to take her chances and attack the huge slime. 

Favrielle used Triple Slash to create a large hole in the slime.

Slime gushed out the hole and the slime slightly deflated. Juno turned into a ball again and started to continuously smack the slime. Favrielle used the distraction to create holes on the slime, making is slowly deflate. With their progress, it would take all day to kill the slime.

When Favrielle tried to create another hole, the slime smacked her into a tree and Favrielle felt like her chest was going to burst open in pain. The slime slowly approached her, ignoring Juno who was no longer doing much damage, and was about to smack her when-

 "Sword Storm!"

 Ten swords flew in from the right and pierced the slime. The slime shrank a bit and slime gushed out of the ten new holes. Favrielle looked over at where the swords had appeared from and saw Avel running over. Her staff glowed green and turned into a mace which Avel used to create a big hole in the slime.

Favrielle stood up slowly and ran over to help Avel out. She used Bleed to create a medium sized whole in the slime. The slime shrank even more and within a minute it was almost the size of Juno. Favrielle stabbed it one last time and it deflated into a puddle.

 Favrielle collapsed on the ground and her chest felt like it was ready to burst. Avel knelt down next to her and cast a healing spell. "Are you okay?"

"No, " Favrielle said truthfully. "I feel like I cracked my ribs."

" I think you did. " Avel said when she saw that the wound on Favrielle's chest wasn't healing. "Your HP is restored, but I can't do anything about cracked ribs."

Favrielle nodded and winced as she felt a sharp pain. She wasn't in much pain and it hurt to sit up. Other than that, she was completely fine. If she had cracked her ribs in real life, she knew that she would be in a lot more pain. 

Avel sat her up against a tree and Favrielle watching as Juno somehow put all the loot that dropped from the monster in her bag, which she hadn't noticed disappear. Finished with her task, Juno hopped back with the bag. 

Avel helped Favrielle stand up and allowed her to lean on her shoulder. "Your pet is very smart." 

Favrielle was about to nod in agreement when Avel said: "But she's also pretty dumb."

Stunned, Favrielle allowed Juno to hop on her head as Avel walked them back to the village.

                                         ***

Trixie stopped walking as many notifications clouded her view. Rave and Lancelot stopped beside her. She noticed that Favrielle and Avel weren't behind them.

"Where are Favrielle and Avel?" She asked Rave and Lancelot .

Lancelot shrugged. "Probably lost or- I levelled!" Lancelot suddenly exclaimed.

Trixie frowned. "When did you level up?"

"Just now. " Lancelot said looking excited. "It looks like we all did."

"Your new friend successfully killed a level 10 king slime. " Rave added sounding, surprisingly, impressed.

Trixie tried not to think too much about what Rave said as she PMed (Private Messaged) Avel.

After a few seconds, Trixie saw a reply.

Rielle? When did the two of them get so close? Trixie took a deep breath and tried to focus on the matters at hand.

 "That was odd." Trixie muttered. Avel never usually rushes through conversations. 

 "What's odd?" Lancelot asked.

 "Nothing!" Trixie said quickly. Maybe a bit too quickly by the way Rave and Lancelot were looking at her.

Trixie tried her best to ignore the looks. "Come on, let's go to the healing center."

Lancelot was about to ask why when Trixie suddenly walked away. He and Rave exchanged glances as they hurried to catch up with her.

                                        ***

Favrielle nearly snorted in amusement as Avel tried to copy Aerita's movements on healing broken bones. So far, Avel could only get half of the spell right and had accidentally broken 3 bones.

Avel plopped down on the chair next to Favrielle's and glared at her. "Don't you dare start laughing at me ,Rielle." Avel had started to call her that ever since she killed the king slime.Favrielle didn't mind and had accepted Avel's friend request.

"I'm not laughing." Favrielle denied as Aerita healed Avel's broken shoulder blade.

"Of course your not." Avel said sarcastically.

 "I'm really not." Favrielle said as she hid a smile and Juno squeaked as if to back her up.

Avel rolled her eyes and stood up, wincing at the pain in her shoulder blade.

"Sit down so I can treat you." Aerita said as she tried to get Avel to sit down.

Avel shook her head. "I can't. It's about for me to log out."

Aerita stepped aside and Avel gave Favrielle a small wave as she logged out. 

"Have you finished your quest?" Aerita asked.

Favrielle shook her head. "Not yet. Do you -"

Favrielle was interrupted by the door opening. Trixie, Jupiter, Rave, and Lancelot came into the healing center. 

"Where is Avel?" Trixie asked as she looked around. Favrielle noticed that the usually peppy elf seemed a bit down.

 "She logged out." Favrielle replied as she noticed Lancelot staring at her intently. 

 "Oh," Trixie said disappointingly. "How are-"

 "How did you level so fast?" Lancelot asked as he stared at Favrielle like she was a mystical being.

Favrielle shrugged. "All I did was kill a king slime-"

 "Which was level 10," Rave said interrupting her. His eyes narrowed at her. "Very mysterious. Very mysterious indeed."

 He looked like he was going to say more when Trixie interrupted him. "Guys, it's about time we log out as well. It's almost seven in the morning."

Rave rose an eyebrow at Trixie before he logged out. 

"Is he always like that?" Favrielle asked Trixie.

When Trixie didn't answer, Favrielle turned to Lancelot. Surprisingly, she got an answer.  Ever since they met, Favrielle had a feeling that Lancelot disliked her. She had felt this for a while, until now.

"Mysterious? Yes. Talkative? No." Lancelot shrugged.

Trixie frowned and suddenly logged out.

"What happened to her?" Favrielle asked.

Lancelot frowned. "I don't know." He logged out.

Favrielle sat there trying to figure out what was wrong with Trixie.