CHAPTER FOUR: SAUDADE

Nothing is remembered when you open your eyes, all that you feel in the beginning is the quiet darkness that surrounds your body, then as if by graceful hands you are pulled up and showed the world, the beautiful landscape that is the Earth Kingdom, I blink my eyes a few times as they adjust to the bright sunlight, the many shades of green that spread across the land. The bustling village of people buying items and the soft hum of a woman singing. A man in front of me, adjusting his glasses and staring through my soul. I look at my hands, they are soft and frail.

I look over my basic cloth garments and then to the three people next to me. Two girls and a guy then in front of me is a robed elderly elf, “Ahem, my name is Emsee I will tell you four new Adventurers your class, and then teach you how to use your beginning skills. I will start with you young lady Eva, if you look a bit above the head you can see a status bar that includes a health bar, if it hits zero you die and a mana bar, if it hits zero you are unable to use spells. To the right is a number, that is your level the max is sixty, at the very top is your name, to the right of that will be your class and if you're granted a Title for example a Hero or King it shall appear above your name, at the very bottom is your Experience Point Gauge. When it fills up you shall gain a level. You gain experience by completing quests or slaying monsters. Fighting monsters with higher levels than you will be very dangerous and difficult so take your time to level up. You each have different abilities and can upgrade them as you level up. If you press your finger in front of you to your right a display will appear where you can access your skill trees, and other features you will learn in time. For now allow me to reveal your class and skills, starting with Eva.” They all nod in silence as if in a classroom. Emsee puts his hand on a massive spellbook and points his other palm at Eva, a bright green light glows from them as she moves her long strands of white hair from her face, “Eva you are a Wind Mage. Your beginning spells are Air Bullet, shooting focused air from a staff and Wind Dodge, quickly moving using wind magic.”

She bows her head, “Thank you!”

Emsee moves to the next person, a massive muscular guy with short red hair and does the same identification spell, “Juzo the Water Kingdom Tank you will use swords, Grand Slash and Dragon Armor.” It seems he is now impatient and wants to speed along the process. He moves to the girl next to me who has long black hair, “Azula the Fire Kingdom Brawler, Fireball and Fists of Flame.” He gets to me and smiles, “An Elf! Oh my what a grand day it is! Let us see here.” The light glows on me, “Oh my. Wait right here for a moment please.” He teleports and is gone for a few minutes and then returns with three more men that look just like him. They all use identification magic.

“So it is true!” One yells.

“It is a miracle! This only happens once every millenia!” One is rubbing his beard fiercely.

“A Dragon Slayer is born. You can use Focus Slice, a skill that can destroy entire kingdoms, and Feint a skill that makes you untouchable. Great things are in store for you, for all of you. Please follow the path to our merchant shop for top tier weapons and armor instead of used beginner gear, you shall be treated like royalty. It has been a pleasure.” Emsee bows his head and I nod.

“Thank you for your kindness.” I begin walking with the other three down the cobblestone road.

“So three frontline and one ranged, we can breeze through the dungeons!” Juzo says enthusiastically.

“Wow a Dragon Slayer that's so cool!” Azula wraps her arm around my shoulder. I begin to blush.

“Yeah but Fire Brawler is great as well!” She doesn't let go of me.

“I wonder if I can learn healing magic. That would be helpful.” Eva is a bit shy but she has a good idea.

“That would be great!” Juzo looks over the shop signs, “Aha! Merchant shop!”

We look from outside the window at the many shiny items that look really expensive, “Woah!” Azula grabs ahold of my hand, I glance over at Eva who is gazing contently.

“Um Azula?” I timidly say.

“Yes Umbra?” She smiles.

“Your hand?” I point to our hands, hers is so warm.

“What of it?” She looks into my eyes, her green eyes shining brightly.

“Why are you holding it?” I blush and look away.

“Oooh so cute!” Juzo yells.

“So bold.” Eva whispers.

“I've decided to be your woman, to protect you everywhere we go. To love and cherish you no matter what life throws at us, please do not reject my love for it is genuine.” She rubs her thumb over mine.

“I um, I will accept your love and I will return it with mine as well, would that be okay with you two?” I look over at Juzo and Eva.

Juzo quickly gives a thumbs up, “Hell yah! Lucky man to have already found love so fast!”

“That is so nice! Then Juzo will you become my lover as well? I will um heal you and love you!” Eva twiddles her hair as she blushes.

Juzo’s face turns red, “Yes! I will love and cherish you and protect you and cook for you!”

“Then it's settled, we must fight hard to protect the people we love!” I say with confidence.

“Aye aye!” Azula cheers, “Now let's get our gear!”

Juzo holds the door open as we walk in, there are staffs and swords and shields all lined with gemstones hanging from the walls, this place smells of perfume and seems really expensive. Azula lets go of my hand and smiles at me as we are greeted by an old elf, “Hello there young Adventurers! Welcome to the Earth Kingdom High Merchant shop, everything and anything is free for you four, Dragon Slayer class must be protected by his party at all costs, at all costs.” The stern gleam in his eyes, “Feel free to look around! These Magic satchels are filled with many supplies for your journey, simply reach into it and the item you are aiming for will come within reach.” He then goes one by one teaching us about the various items to be used while traveling, “Now that you know all that you need, feel free to look around!”

We thank him and go in different directions wandering through the shop, Juzo is really loud as he screams for Eva to look at the swords with him. The many weapons hung along the wall each have a brief description of their lore, they all cost hundreds of Platinum, and most have elemental damage as well. Am I really that special?

“These are so pretty huh?” I am pulled from my trance.

“Oh yeah those are, they look so sharp.” Azula has two silver gauntlets on that each have four small blades at the edge.

“They're called Hermes, there's no elemental buff but it increases my agility stats, I'll upgrade my agility so I can get to you as fast as I can whenever you need me, no matter how far away you are. I will protect you.” She punches her fists together, “I'm going to look at armor now, come help me pick a set once you find a sword okay?” She kisses my cheek.

“Okay I will.” I blush and quickly walk away. I stand in front of the swords, there are so many to choose from, a thin blue Long Sword katana catches my eye. I gently pick it up and look over it, dragons are engraved into the blades edge, the handle is cold and firm.

“Agh yes excellent choice Dragon Slayer, Thunderbolt was crafted from the God level thunder dragon Drathor, it gives lightning damage as well.” The old man grins, “I will bring the sheathe and hold it for you up front. If there is anything else you need let me know.”

“I will, thank you.” I walk towards the armor and Juzo walks out of the fitting room with a red full plated heavy armor suit on, “Looks great!”

“Thank you! I just have to get used to all of this weight.” It seems he is going for defense, the true tank position.

“I'll be far away mostly so I won't be using armor but this dress is so pretty!” Eva spins around elegantly in the air wearing a light blue flowy dress.

“So beautiful!” Juzo has hearts in his eyes.

“Umbra what do you think?” Azula has light black metal armor that a thief class would wear, metal shoes, forearm and shin guards along with chest and back plates over a nice black and red tracksuit. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail and held in place by a red flame shaped clip. She punches and kicks the air to make sure the clothes aren't too tight.

“Beautiful and strong, so wonderful.” She blushes and kisses my cheek once more.

“Thank you! Those plain garbs did no justice!” There are so many different armor sets along the wall as well. I should focus on defense but I don't want my speed to be debuffed so I choose a blue stained lightweight full body armor set to match my sword, and with my blue eyes and long blonde hair the colors compliment each other beautifully. I change in the fitting room and the armor is nicely padded on the inside, almost as if soft pillows are gently hugging my body. I walk out of the fitting room to my party clapping.

“That looks so nice!” Juzo pats my back and we both flex our muscles.

“Wooh!” Azula yells.

“So heroic!” Eva chuckles.

“We should grab our weapons and head out to the first dungeon.” I calmly say without thinking.

“Sounds good Leader!” Juzo smiles at me, his bright yellow eyes burning into my soul.

“Leader?” I ask in confusion.

“Of course! You are Dragon Slayer after all, so be our strong Leader okay?” Azula smiles as we walk towards the front.

“That is true, please lead us to greatness.” Eva gives the warmest smile, her white eyes glowing in the slight rays of sunlight that slips through the window.

“Okay, I will um try my best!” I nervously play with the loose strands of hair that fall to my waist.

“Agh! What valient looking armor and weapons you have all chosen, I am sure legends will be told of your many great feats! Here are your Greater Magic Satchels, they magically attach themselves to your waist, you can store anything you'd like as I've explained before. And your weapons are here too, the sheathes attach to your hip as well, Juzo since you use a Greatsword it shall attach to your back. I expect to hear great things from all of you! Farewell! Make sure to not let your HP hit zero, you will die.”

I place my satchel and sword on my hip, “Thank you so much! We'll be sure to be careful!” We each thank him and walk out of the shop.

Juzo stretches his arms, the massive sword on his back and the heavy armor must be a lot for him, “Try this Juzo.” I dig through the satchel and pull out a small jar filled with Stamina Pills, I take one and hand it to him, “Since your body's not used to all of the weight maybe this will help.” He takes the pill and instantly feels better.

“Smart thinking Leader! Where should we go now?” Juzo seems like his body is more relaxed.

Azula grabs ahold of my hand, her gauntlets hanging on her hip, “We should go to the first dungeon and then set up camp once night comes around.”

“I'll try to catch us some food while we're out there too!” Azula rubs her warm thumb over my hand.

“Good idea, we should practice our skills as well.” Eva is quiet but really smart.

“That way we can execute them easily, we should also go over battle strategies too! We're so lucky starting out with really good gear too it's almost like we're cheating in a way, but it's still nice!” Juzo laughs cheerfully.

“Those are all great ideas, well our adventure starts now I suppose.” We walk through the busy city towards the main gate where elf archer guards open the gate and allow us to walk past. The gate closes behind us and ahead is a wide bridge that leads towards open fields, “We can practice in the fields for a while until we feel comfortable. Juzo any ideas for formation?”

He stares ahead calculating in his mind, “I feel as if right now we don't have to worry much, but once we reach higher level bosses or if one has wandered into the lower levels then we should have me keeping attention while you and Azula attack the minions and then once those are gone you can focus on the boss while Eva focuses on either healing me or dealing ranged damage. What do you think?”

“I think my skill takes a while to charge so that would be a good plan too, Azula or Eva any suggestions?” I look over at Azula who is deep in thought.

“Hmm nope it seems Juzo is a master strategist!” She smiles and gives a thumbs up with her free hand.

“Agh you're too kind! How about you Eva?” Juzo timidly holds her hand as well.

“Once I learn healing spells I'll be able to but that plan sounds great!” She blushes.

“Okay it's settled, we'll work as a team to destroy everything that stands in our way.” I smile, the promise of adventure and the calming scent of nature and the many trees in the distance, this is the beginning of a long voyage.

We walk deep into the plains, it seems as if nothing is around us, a few hundred feet ahead are a few boar scattered about a hundred feet apart or so, “Classic to have boar as beginner enemies huh!” Juzo has both hands on his knees, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Agh that is sad to say the least.” Eva floats around the floor with air magic.

“I wonder if I could, excuse me love.” Azula kisses my hand and lets it go then steps a few feet away and shoots fire from her hands to propel her forward, she throws a vicious combo of punches and kicks.

“Guess we're all practicing.” We space out and I focus on my sword, I reach over and slowly pull it out of the sheathe, the metal is dense and cold. It takes me a while to get a comfortable grip on it. While Juzo viciously swings his sword I grip mine in my hand, “Focus Slice.” My body can feel energy surging into the sword as it glows red, I feel as if it is ready to explode, I swing my sword and a shockwave of air blows towards the others.

“Watch out! Dragon Armor!” Juzo jumps in front of Eva and Azula, blocking the impact with his sword as his body is hardened like dragon scales. His feet dig into the ground as he grunts loudly, he slices the air pressure in half, the floor on both sides caving in, leaving two lines of destruction that go on for a hundred feet. Is that really my power?

“I’m so sorry! Are you guys okay?” I rush to the three.

“Yeah I'm fine! Don't even worry I know you were just testing out your skill! It puts me at ease knowing how strong you are!” Juzo laughs heartily.

“Agh that was so cool my big strong Dragon Slayer!” Azula pats Juzo on the back, “Good save Juzo thank you!”

“Juzo that was so brave! Thank you, and since we know the range now Umbra can charge next to me and then hit the boss!” She practices shooting while moving with wind magic.

“Smart idea, well back to practicing!” Juzo uses his skills, they look so destructive.

“Woah so beautiful.” I am awestruck as I watch Azula cover her fists in flames with her gauntlets.

She does really fast combos of fire punches and kicks, somersaults and then she takes a deep breath, “Fireball!” She blows and a massive ball of fire almost like a flamethrower erupts from her mouth, charring the grass ahead of her and floating into the sky. She's lost in thought, “I just have to be careful using it in tight spaces, or gaseous mines.”

“Grand Slash!” Instantly like a fast whip Juzo’s sword swings in front of him in a wide arc while shining white, he triggers the skill three times consecutively.

“Woah it's a Instant skill so you can keep using it until your mana runs out!” Eva says, holding her staff and focusing ahead, “Wind Bullet!” It takes a few seconds for her spell to charge. Out of her staff flies three small balls of air that shoot straight for one hundred meters, “Wind Dodge!” The air is furious around her feet as she glides across the floor.

“Feint.” My body moves quickly to the side and I stumble to keep my footing, it'll take me some time to get the hang of it. We practice our skills for an hour, “Are we all comfortable with our skills?” My body is sore but it feels nice. I take a Stamina Pill and Mana Pill then hand some out to the others.

“Thanks! Yeah I'm ready to go!” Juzo is pumped up.

“Same here love.” The freckles that mask Azula’s nose are so beautiful.

“I'm ready too!” Eva nervously clutches her staff.

“Then let's go hunt! I think for the boar we should face them on our own. What do you guys think?” I see in the distance boar are evenly spaced apart in fours a few hundred feet from each other.

“Yeah that sounds fine! It was made that way right? Then we all fight the big boar at the end of the fields. Or that's how it usually goes right?” Juzo stretches his arms as we walk towards the hunting grounds.

“Truuee.” Azula cracks her neck and shakes her arms.

“I'll be fine as well!” Eva has confidence in her eyes.

“Let's do this!” We spread out and run towards our boars.

I take mine by surprise and grip my sword with both hands while slicing through its body, the feel of cold steel tearing flesh and the squealing pains of the boar are all too real. It topples over as I watch Azula crash down on hers with her heel, Juzo chopping his in half and Eva ripping hers to shreds with her Air Bullet.

“Woah this is so much gore!” Azula picks up the small Copper coin that appears next to the boar. Each one of us got a single Copper.

“How should we split item drops?” Juzo asks calmly, putting his Copper in his pouch.

“We keep what we kill unless it's useful for a different class and then we can trade, pay equal shares if we're renting a inn or getting food. And if we're low on cash we help each other. We don’t really have to worry about gear here.” That's what sounds reasonable in my head.

“Sounds good to me!” He yells as we advance to the next wave of boar.

“I'm glad we agree with each other!” Eva smiles.

“Same here!” Azula launches into the air and crashes down with both feet, killing the boar instantly. We continue boar after boar and they die with a single hit, “Woah level 2 already!” All of our stats are boosted.

“Nice! We'll be stronger in no time!” Juzo stares into an enormous pile of wood stacked in the middle of the field in front of us. My neck hurts from looking so high, “Azula torch that stack hurry!”

“On it! Fireball!” Many pieces of wood catch on fire but it’s as if an explosion causes the branches to fly in all directions as a giant tusked boar huffs at us, near his head are three health bars and the name Boarliath.

“Quick battle formations! Dragon Armor!” Juzo blocks the tusks with his sword as we fling into formation with Azula using flames to get on top, crashing down on his back with vicious kicks. Eva charges Air Bullet.

“Focus Slice! Juzo buy me some time please!” I focus on the energy building up and flowing through my sword.

“Okay! Dragon Armor is wearing off in five seconds!” His legs dig into the dirt below.

“My kicks and fire punches aren't doing damage!” Azula keeps attacking.

“His wool is too thick! Air Bullets don't work either!” Eva yells, not knowing what to do.

“I can't hold him any longer! Grand Slash!” Juzo swings his sword, causing the boar to become off balance.

“Juzo! Azula! Move!” They both jump out of the way as I swing my sword, the shockwave from the attack slices the beast right down the middle and it falls into halves on the floor. All of our levels shoot up to level 5.

“Woah attack boosts on our skills!” We each get our skills upgraded.

I pick up the One Silver, everyone is out of breath, “Good job team! I'll put this into our guild Nugz bag for traveling expenses, if that's okay with everyone?”

“Yeah that's great! A guild with four people?” Juzo rubs his arm and takes a Health Pill.

“Sure why not! One day we'll rule our own kingdom I'm sure!” Azula dusts off her armor.

“I believe in our abilities! Sorry I couldn't do much this fight!” Eva smiles brightly.

“Don't worry there was nothing to be done! We should look for healing spell scrolls once we get to a city!” I dig through the satchel for the Carving Knife.

“Guild sounds great then! When the time comes we will be awesome rulers!” Juzo looks at me while I run my hand over the boar’s tusks, “Whatcha doin there Leader?”

“We are short on Nugz so I thought we could sell the tusks at a merchant in the city and then cut slabs of meat and store them for food so we can save the Food Pills for emergencies since they only gave us a few.” I cut thin pieces of the thick meat, the small blade cutting through the meat as if it were butter.

“That's actually really smart! Agh Leader is so smart!” Juzo talking in a high pitched voice and dancing around.

“Here I'll set up a small fire with many prongs so we can cook the meat and-wait how do you plan on preserving it?” Azula stops picking up sticks and stares at me confused.

“We've been fighting boar for the past few hours and it's about mid-day now. If we cut them into small slabs and then leave them on a drying rack and let the sun slowly dehydrate it during the eight or so more hours then we have a bunch of jerky that will last at least a year, especially with how much meat this big boy has.” I smile and continue cutting pieces.

“Resting here would be nice too! And I don't see any flies so we don't have to worry about that! It just smells a bit so I'll set up camp down that way!” Juzo walks fifty feet away and sets his sword down and takes his armor off. Eva pulls a blanket from her satchel and lays it out, putting her staff on it and then they both run back to help.

“I'll make the racks with Azula!” Eva gathers sticks and they begin digging them into the ground a little bit away from camp.

“We'll get this done in no time, I was thinking of making like ten rows spaced apart so we can walk down the middle.” Azula holds sticks in her hands.

“I'll help Umbra! Agh with all that armor off I feel so good, so small slabs like this?” He shows me a perfectly cut slab.

“Yeah just like that.” The slabs I cut I lay them out on a thick log until I run out of room, “Azula could you take this please?” She quickly takes it.

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“Save some so we can cook later too please.” She softly lays them out.

“Ooh yes meat!” Eva licks her lips.

“If only there was rice too! And hot sauce!” Juzo had a good idea.

“We can stock up on that once we get to the city too, it shouldn't be too long until we get there.” And we must get plenty of supplies, who knows how long it would take to reach the city after that, “We could look for a map too and any quests that give rewards we need. I'll try to remember all this but there's just so much we need.”

“Well our adventure has just begun, we have good gear and food now and each other's company, I’m sure eventually we'll have everything we need! All in good time am I right?” I enjoy Juzo's optimistic view on life.

“Yeah man. Everything will be good.” In my mind I make a list of everything we need, I don't even know how much a night in a inn is. Oh well no point in dwelling on it now. The girls are hard at work talking to each other.

“Leader.” I look over at him and he's staring at his fists.

“Yeah?” I continue to cut, but pause, waiting for his reply.

“I know we're strong and capable, but as we go in the higher levels things could get risky and if we get in a pinch and there's no way out or like if one of us has to stay behind please protect the girls and leave me. Promise me you won't hesitate.” His eyes are serious and poking through my soul.

“Fine, I won't argue with you. Just know that I'll always be prepared and have a way out okay. I promise you, I'll keep us alive.” I return his smile, what leader would I be if I didn't stay behind, but I'll plan so that will never happen. There are so many things to take into account like our food supply and how much Mana and Health pills we have. Most of the Nugz should go into buying Health Pills since we can’t fight without them and Eva could just relax in back for the most part. I'll work it all out in my head later, right now I have to focus on meat. Juzo and I continue to slice in silence, he wipes his brow, “Looks like that's all of it!” We hand Azula the last log of meat and the sun is still high in the sky. We walk to them and all of the meat is organized neatly, “Woah good job!” Juzo claps his hands.

“Thanks!” Eva helps put on the last of the meat.

“We put the best looking pieces in a bowl so we can cook, we should wash our hands first.” She pulls out a Water Crystal and we all hold our hands out, “We don't know how much this holds so wash your hands at the same time to save water then someone switch with me.”

“Right!” She begins to pour and we quickly wash our hands.

“Here switch with me.” I say, using the Water Crystal to help her wash her hands.

“Thanks love, All clean! I'll rest for a bit before cooking.” She takes off her armor and sits in her tracksuit.

“Good idea, it's been a long day.” I take my armor of too and lay my sword down, my body feels stiff from all of that fighting. We lay out another blanket.

“This place is so nice, like look at the view and everything.” Azula rests her head on my shoulder.

“Yeah and the dead chopped up body of the floor boss.” I make the three laugh so hard Juzo snorts, “No but yeah it really is beautiful here and even though we haven't really spent much time together I feel so close to you three, we're in this for life. You know, unless you find a guild you want to be in or different party members.” Such is life.

“I'm loyal to all of you for life, we're supposed to make names for ourselves and start our own kingdom, my sword belongs to all of you, I think I should invest in a shield too huh?” Juzo punches his fists together.

“Same here! I don't need to be with anyone else just you three!” Eva gives the warmest smile.

“I’m with you all for life, until I can't fight any longer.” Azula kisses my cheek, “We will become Gods in this world.”

“Thank you for sticking around then. We should count how many Nugz we have so we know our budget.” I pull our guild bag out of the satchel along with my own bag.

“Sounds like a great idea. We killed boars for hours but they only dropped Copper and those are like Pennies?” A confused expression on Juzo’s face, on all of our faces.

“Pennies?” Eva asks.

“Hmm I feel like I know that word, but I can't remember what it means.” Azula says lost in thought.

“Same here.” I say.

“Hmmm well then basically there's one hundred Copper in a Silver. So Silver would be a value of One and then Gold is a value of One Hundred. Agh this is so confusing!” Juzo laughs while scratching his head.

“As we passed one of the vendors outside I saw most of his trinkets were a few Silver. So we'll just assume for now everything will cost a few Silver.” We all count our Copper.

“Fifty Copper that means fifty boar and our level shot up to level 2 and they gave 2 Exp. every kill and that gives us 3 Silvers in total with all of us combined. Wow talk about rich.” Eva laughs.

“Yeah you're right. I hope Health Pills aren't expensive. Or we would have to hide somewhere after every fight and let our health heal over time.” I say, calculating the pills, but Eva was way ahead of me.

“Juzo took two Stamina Pills, I took one Mana Pill, Umbra took one Stamina Pill. They gave us five in each jar. So twenty of each in total. Or eighteen stamina, nineteen mana and twenty health. Until Juzo gets used to the weight of his armor we keep giving him Stamina Pills whenever each one wears off. Only take mana or health when it's an emergency okay?” Everyone nods in agreement.

“Got it. We should check prices for pills at the city, even if we can only afford one we should stock up on Health Pills.” I say, looking at the tough journey ahead of us.

“Sounds good, I wonder why there's no other Adventurers around?” Azula looks off into the distance of where we came from.

“I think they come in waves every few days so the servers don't get overloaded.” More foreign words came out of my mouth.

“I know there's more Adventurers once we clear the Earth Kingdom dungeons, but we have to watch out for hostile Adventurers.” Juzo tries to keep conversation without dwelling on the unknown.

“I need a healing spell so bad.” Eva presses her finger on her cheek.

“We'll get one soon I'm sure. Should we camp here for the night or keep going? Because the meat will be done close to sundown.” I take into account the terrain and our lack of shelter.

“That's a good question. We don't know what beasts come out in the dark or the range of the Glow Stones and we're on no time limit so we can go as fast or as slow as we want, we could just sit back and enjoy the ride.” Azula says, putting her palm forward, “I wonder if there's paint for nails, it would have to be fireproof, maybe a nice silver would do. Would you like that Eva?”

Eva is already looking at her nails, “Oh my glob yes!”

“Then it's settled, Health Pills, a shield, Healing Spell Scroll and nail paint!” Juzo gives a thumbs up.

“But first we need to set up a perimeter and get rid of that rotting body so it doesn't attract monsters at night. We could just bury it.” I kiss Azula’s cheek and stand up then I grab my sword.

“How do you plan on doing that?” Juzo asks and stands up too.

“While Azula and Eva cook, Juzo and I will bury the big boy.” Juzo grabs his sword and holds it against his shoulder with one hand.

“It's just going to be cooked meat but that's better than nothing! I wish we had seasoning though we should look for some as well.” Azula cracks her knuckles and begins piling up sticks.

“I'll be right here okay do your best!” Eva smiles while helping Azula.

“We'll be back! Just yell if you need anything!” Juzo pats me on the back, “What's the plan to get rid of it?”

“I was thinking my Focus Slice, I have to stay still so the impact would be diagonal if I sliced downward because it would hit me if I swung straight down. So if you used Dragon Armor while holding me above your shoulders I can make a hole big enough to bury it in.” I can see Juzo playing it out in his head.

“That is a very um dangerous idea, but I like it! Yeah let's try it! I can hold you by your feet that way the swing is straight down.” We both laugh so hard.

“This is insane you know that right?” I smile because we're having so much fun as we should be.

“Okay got it! Dragon Armor!” His grip is firm as he holds me by my ankles.

“Focus Slice!” My body charges until I feel the surge of power, “Here I go!” I swing and the shockwave sends the ground caving into a massive hole.

Juzo puts me down and dusts off his pants, “That was cool! What do we do now?”

I sheathe my sword and pat his back, “We push the rest of the pieces in.” I use a log to push a small chunk into the pit.

“Yeah sounds about right.” Juzo grunts while lifting both empty halves of the boar and tosses it in while I use the log to scoot the rest of the smaller pieces in.

“Well that's all of it. Time to close the hole. I got it.” I pull out my sword, “Focus Slice!” I charge and hit the side of the hole, causing it to cave in.

“That's another job done. And the food smells so good!” We start walking over to the girls while Juzo leans in real close to me and whispers, “Bro we lucked out so much, badass classes and those two melon babes in love with us, we're the luckiest Adventurers in this world.”

“What do you mean?” I take a closer look at Azula’s and Eva’s racks, I haven't noticed much because Azula wears armor, “Oh my god.” How did I not notice before, both of them are plump like watermelons or grapefruits.

“Are you okay?” I stand there staring in awe as Juzo waves his hand back and forth in front of me.

“Umbra what's wrong?” Azula asks.

“Um nothing!” I say in a high pitched tone.

Juzo gives a thumbs up to me and winks, “Lucky to be alive!”

We walk to the girls and put or swords in the grass, “Wow this smells really nice.” There is a small fire pit full of smoldering embers. Azula hands us two bowls of meat, “We should wash our hands.” I tell Juzo and we both look at our dirty hands.

“True.” We quickly walk a few feet away and wash them.

“Is the boar all gone?” Eva asks, handing Juzo his bowl back and taking a bite of her meat.

“Yep! We dumped it in a hole.” Juzo takes a bite of the juicy meat, “This is so good!”

“Umbra are you going to eat too?” I'm lost in a trance of boobs, accidentally looking at Azula's my gaze is shifted back to her eyes, “What's wrong?”

I blush, “Nothing! Thanks for cooking!” I shove a handful of meat in my mouth and she chuckles.

“Thanks for the food!” Juzo yells.

“Both of you are very welcome!” Eva smiles.

“Eat up!” Azula laughs as I take a bite of the meat.

“This is so good!” It tastes so juicy, it's so good.

We all finish eating and Juzo rubs his belly, “Time for a nap!” He lays on his back and stares at the sky up above, “Agh this is the life. Thank you friends.” He wipes his hands on the grass and holds Eva's hand.

“I'll take first watch the two of you can rest as well. It's been a long day.” I give a thumbs up.

“You sure?” Azula asks.

“Okay night!” Eva cuddles with Juzo who kisses her cheek.

“Yeah rest up!” I pull out my blanket and hand it to Azula, “Use this as a pillow.” I smile.

“Thank you so much Leader.” She kisses me softly on the lips and stretches out on the blanket then falls peacefully asleep. I work on my breathing and peacefully meditate while staying on guard.

I look around us as the sun begins to set, there are plains that stretch for miles until there's a treeline in the far distance, behind us is plains and the city really faint and far away, “What are- what are you looking at?” Azula wipes her tired eyes, “How long was I sleeping for?”

“How far the trees are, the city and our surroundings. If we made camp here at night we would be out in the open.” I have to plan ahead.

“Yeah that's very true, but we're in the beginning plains level, there's nothing here but boar and they're all... dead.” Her eyes open wide.

“Exactly, and at night there are more ominous monsters with great noses that can even travel from other areas just to eat. It's the cycle of nature. We only have about thirty minutes or less of sunlight left, I already packed our jerky into jars so we don't have to worry about that.

“Juzo! Eva! Psst we have to hurry!” Azula is frantically putting her armor on.

“What is it!?” Juzo jumps up and grabs his sword.

“What Azula!?” Eva grabs her staff and points it into the distance.

“At least we know you'll wake up fast if we get ambushed. We have about thirty minutes until sundown, we're out in the open and all of the dead boar will attract monsters and I barely realized it I'm so sorry!” I say as I quickly put my armor on.

Juzo shoves a Stamina Pill in his mouth and puts his armor on, “What do we do then Leader?” Eva wraps up the blankets while Azula rinses the bowls and they put the items away. It's like we were never there, except for the sticks where we let the meat dry, which is also covered in meat.

“We bolt straight for the forest and climb the nearest big tree and make camp up there, from what I can see the trees are giant towers. That way we put distance between all of that dead meat and us. Azula if you could use Fireball on the sticks we used to dry the meat it'll keep monsters here as well while we run. That sound fine to everyone?” I attach my sword to my hip.

“Yeah let's go while we still have some light left!” Juzo starts jogging, the clank of his armor sounding in the air.

“Juzo wait for me!” Eva uses wind to dash after him.

“Fireball!” Azula lights the sticks and meat on fire, “Come on we have to hurry!” Azula uses her flames to push her across to Eva.

I run as fast as I can, “Feint!” I use the skill to move a bit further, “Feint!” I continue to use the skill to catch up and most of my mana is used up at that point.

“It's too dark to see.” Juzo says, stopping to catch his breath, “And the forest is still really far.”

“Glow Stones quick.” I say, digging into my satchel. The small stones give off the smallest amount of light, like little lanterns. The sky up above is filled with beautiful stars but that is the last thing on our mind for we can hear the howls and grunts of animals behind us. The Glow Stones attach to my shoulder guard like a magnet, “That's cool it attaches to your staff. I need to let my mana recover and there's still a long way to go and now we're in the dark still but showing off our location. If we get ambushed it's going to be a tough battle.” My mind is in a panic. I need to calm down.

“It's okay, it'll be okay, we're okay.” Azula puts her hand on my cheek and calms me down.

“You're right. Sorry, let's walk at a slow pace if you all are fine to walk.” I ask, making sure we have strength to fight is essential.

“Yeah I'm good.” Juzo quickly says, holding his sword over his shoulder.

“Me too.” Eva clutches her staff lightly.

“Same.” Azula has her gauntlets on.

“Then let's walk on but make sure to stay quiet okay and if we run into something don't yell or scream.” At that they all nod and we walk onwards in silence for what seemed like hours.

“Shh.” Juzo quickly holds the three of us back with his arm.

“Lights off.” I quietly whisper, I can already hear it with my elf ears, something big walking on all fours, making the ground shake about twenty feet away from us, headed in a slow pace in our direction.

Everyone quickly hides their Glow Stone and Juzo gets right next to my ear, “What do we do?”

“We don't know how strong it is. Azula when it gets close use Fireball and then while it's stunned we bolt for the treeline.” My hands are shaking, I need to focus. Plan two steps ahead, “If that doesn't work and it catches up then we have to fight in the dark and more enemies might show up. If we get separated then climb the nearest tree and tie a Glow Stone at the top.”

“Got it.” Juzo quickly says.

“Fight hard even if we have to fight alone.” Azula kisses my cheek.

“If we get separated I’m going to run away since my defense stats aren't good.” Eva says, her voice shaking.

“That's perfectly fine, it would be best to avoid fighting anyways.” My ears twitch, “Azula now!”

“Fireball!” A huge ball of flame erupts and the light reveals the massive body of a gorilla-like creature with massive horns on its head. Both of the enormous forearms block the fire, the info bar can be seen, he's a level 25 Lightning Ape.

“Everyone run! Eva use wind magic and rush to the forest! Hang a Glow Stone so we know where to go. This thing would kill you with one hit so hurry!” I begin sprinting away from the beast as it lets out a deafening roar.

“Got it! Be careful!” A huge gust of wind and she is gone. I feel an uneasy pain in the back of my head so I quickly glance behind me, “Everyone dodge!” I don't have time to speak so I leap to the left as a beam of electricity shoots past us, the ape’s fur has turned yellow and electricity is surging throughout its body, the sharp teeth closing, the beam fades away. The creature is glowing brightly in the darkness, “Everyone okay?” I quickly get back to my feet.

“Yeah fine here.” Azula's voice.

“I'm good too.” Juzo's voice.

“Keep running okay!” I keep my eyes on the beast, who is slowly sniffing the air.

It's as if our eyes lock on to each other, even though an ocean of darkness lies in between us, I know I'm his chosen opponent, “Oh no.”

The beasts body moves as if using Feint. It teleports diagonally in my direction, both forearms ten times the size of Juzo, the beast a mix of a gorilla and a lion with very muscular arms and legs, “Dragon Armor!”

“No Juzo don't! Its attacks are too powerful! Feint! Feint! Feint!” Sorry man, I use Feint to quickly pick up speed and kick Juzo in the temple. He flies into the darkness, “Azula take Juzo and run please!”

“Umbra what are you doing?” The beast is closing distance fast.

“I have to protect my party, I'm leader so please let me do this. I don't have time! Hurry and take Juzo before he wakes up! Please!” I grip my sword.

“I believe in you. Be careful okay.” She kisses me quickly and uses flames to jump where Juzo landed, I can hear him trying to fight his way to help. I must focus on my battle. I'm sure I can only take one or two hits so I have to be careful. Especially with that massive body and speed. I calm myself down, my mind is focused on the task ahead. Nothing else but the beast in front of me that I have to cut down.

“Feint!” I dodge the massive double fist crashing down from the sky, a closer look and the arms are glowing a slight red, must mean an attack boost. I'll avoid hitting that. I swing, cutting the body, but it does little damage. A barrage of fists flying towards me, I continue dodging, my body having a slight reaction, and I follow with the direction it signals me to go. I assume some would call this intuition? Maybe it's a passive skill. No time to think now, I focus on hitting the same spot, the monster's hit combos are repetitive, there seems to be a good amount of blood leaking out of his left thigh. I focus on his right thigh now, dodging a swing and then the opening should be right there, I swing my sword but it is blocked by the massive tree trunk-like left arm. I drop to the floor and roll to my right, dodging a combo of kicks. That would've been bad. The beast leaps high into the air and spins in place. I quickly get up and roll as it crashes down, causing the ground to shake, I roll again as it quickly leaps up and crashes again, it does this at least ten more times, my body is exhausted but I must keep fighting. The beast is standing on two feet now, swinging the massive fists while walking towards me. My mana a bit low. I want to save it for Focus Slice so I backstep quickly, behind the beast in the distance I can see three faint lights hung from the top of a tree, just how long have I been fighting for? Well at least my friends are safe. Oh no. I trip over a log. There is no time to dodge. The beast is standing right above me, I don't want to die, but at least my friends are safe, the beast raises both fists and swings downward, I put out my left arm, I can feel my armor caving in, I think my arm is broken instantly but that stopped his attack. It raises his arms again. This is how I die huh? As it swings downward, a blinding white light explodes between me and the beast. It hurls itself on the floor rolling around, or at least that's what I can hear.

“Hold onto me!” I quickly wrap my arm around Azula. I can feel her pushing off of the ground, the wind blowing through my hair.

“Th...thank.” I can't speak. I can't open my eyes.

“Save your strength love, your HP is very low.” I don't know how long we traveled for, it felt so long. The beast probably couldn't follow us because of its injury.

I can feel a vine being tied around me, “Pull him up hurry! Fists of Flame!”

I'm pulled up for the longest time. I'm still in a daze, but I can hear Azula fighting, “Azula! Hurry save her please.” I beg whoever is laying me down.

“Swallow this, hurry! Agh his armor is busted. Wait hold on!” It's so hard to move, my vision still isn't normal, I'm pulled up and a bowl is placed to my lips, “Drink this!”

It hurts but I slowly drink the thick liquid, my body is slowly returning to normal, but my vision is still bad. I can move around normally now, my arm is no longer broken.

“Go help Azula she's fighting the ape down there! Please!” I reach for my sword and as I start to pull it out I can feel her hands grab mine.

“It's fine, everything's fine, there was a few goblins but no sign of the ape don't push yourself okay?” She kisses my cheek, I can feel tears falling onto my face, “I was so worried!”

“Umbra please don't knock me out again, but then at the same time, thank you. Knowing my fighting style I would've just been in the way. When I came to I was tied up but I watched most of the fight from here, it was Eva who picked apart through the Dungeoneering Kit and figured there was something to fend off a big monster and we found a Flashbang. Azula grabbed it so fast and rushed out before we could say anything.” Juzo pats my shoulder, “Thank you for saving us.”

“I'm glad you're okay. It seems you can mix pills and drink them like potions as well. And it seems your arm is no longer broken, Health Pills heal that as well. I will work on my Apothecary so we can have a lot of buffs in the future. I'll be the best support instead of running away. I'm sorry you had such a huge burden.” Eva begins to cry.

“It's not your fault, just mine. If we didn't stay in the fields so long we probably could have made it to town by now. I wasn't thinking, but next time I'll be more prepared. I'm sorry I let you down as a leader.” I feel useless.

“Not at all. None of us would have known, and now we have so much food. As a leader you did the right thing, you really did. We're all alive and that's what matters.” Azula wipes the tears from my eyes.

“I still can't see, someone look and tell me if there's a status-ailment near my name.” Everything is darkness even with my eyes open.

“Yeah there's an eye with a line through it and it looks like a three hour countdown. If only we had antidotes for those.” Eva says, rummaging through her kit, “Nope nothing here, sorry.”

“I should sleep anyways, it's been a long day, but we survived our first day as Adventurers so thank you everyone.” I smile and clap.

“Yeah that's true!” Juzo claps too.

“Hooray!” Azula cheers

“And many more to come!” Eva claps too.

“Well I'm off to bed, goodnight everyone. We're pretty high up so nothing should attack us.” Azula rests next to me, her armor still on it feels cold but a nice cold.

“I'll stand guard anyways, Eva get some rest okay?” Juzo kneels down next to me, “You did great today Leader, don't beat yourself up okay? You saved my life, you really did. Thank you.” Juzo pats my chest.

“Thank you Juzo, I'm sure you'll save mine one day as well. We're brothers for life man.” I reach out with my fist and he places his fist against it.

“For life.” His armor clanks as he sits down against the tree.

“Goodnight!” Eva whispers.

“Goodnight everyone.” I say.

“Rest up! We'll make it to the city tomorrow.” Azula kisses my cheek.

“I'll wake you up if anything happens. Goodnight everyone.” Juzo whispers.

“Juzo wake me up in four hours so we can switch please, plus I want to look at this world at night.” I give a thumbs up.

“Okay Leader, get some rest.” I assume he's giving a thumbs up too. I let the darkness embrace me, I let my mind drift into nothingness. No dreams occur in this realm, just darkness, I wonder why that is. I almost died today, I guess I should get used to it. Because even when I'm max level it's a fight for survival, just now even more so since we're weak, but I'll get better both as a fighter and as a Leader.

It's as if I am being pulled back into my body, I am gently shaken awake, “Leader, can you see?” It's Juzo, I blink a few times and slowly sit up.

“Yeah I can, thanks.” There are a few Glow Stones around camp. We’re on a massive tree branch. I stand up slowly and walk to where he was sitting.

“Come check this out.” He says, leading me towards the edge of the tree branch, or what I thought was the edge. He moves thick bushes and I walk through them, the branch arcs upwards, “Use the grooves for grip, it doesn’t get too steep.”

“Got it. Listen I'm sorry I knocked you out.” I follow closely behind him.

“I told you it was okay, you did what you had to do. One day I'll get my defense up so high you could literally use me as a shield so just keep boosting your attack okay?” He looks back and gives me a thumbs up while smiling.

“I'll do my best. If we got you a shield it would take a while to get used to the weight but as your strength gets better you'll get used to it.” I can see the thick tops of trees come into view as we climb to the top of the branch. It evens out like a little platform, “Woah!”

“This is nice right! Look at the view bro!” He has his hands on his hips, taking in the view.

There is a giant moon in the distance, the stars fill every inch of the sky and the many lights of the city could be seen not too far away, “This is so beautiful! Man I almost died today huh?” I chuckle and sigh, taking a seat at the edge of the branch, the surrounding forest stretches far into the distance.

“That was bad, but we’re alive and that's what matters ya know.” Juzo takes a seat next to me and laughs, “Level 25 monsters are that strong and I hear the cap is sixty. It's gonna be intense battles, way more intense than boar.”

I can’t imagine the monsters to come, “That was just one of those Lightning Apes, imagine a whole forest full of them?”

“That would be so bad.” We sit there in silence for the longest time, “Hey Umbra?”

I turn my attention back to him, “Yeah bro?”

“Thanks for saving us. I know you blame yourself but don't. You got us food to live and protected us when things went wrong. Just when I get stronger let me be a badass too okay?” Juzo gives a thumbs up.

“I will I promise. And we saved each other out there, I would've been dead if it wasn't for Eva and Azula too. We have to get stronger to protect those girls, even though they're the ones saving us huh?” We both chuckle.

“We don't have much Nugz, we could see how many Health Pills we can buy, and take a better look at your armor in the morning.” Juzo thinking ahead.

“Good idea, my arm snapped and I could feel everything, but when I took those Health Pills my whole body went back to normal, it's crazy.” I show him my arm, it looks perfectly normal.

“I wonder how bad the injuries could get before they're unable to be healed.” Juzo is lost in thought.

“Yeah that's true. We don't know much about this world and were only taught the basics, I wonder just how big this world is too and how many Adventurers are fighting and dying as we speak.” I stand up and stretch, my body feeling less stiff than before, “You should get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Yeah we do.” Juzo yawns loudly and I help him up, “Wait up, I want to remember this place forever.” Juzo digs into his satchel for the Carving Knife.

“What's that for?” I ask.

“To leave our mark, so we can always come back and remember no matter where life takes us.” He begins carving for some time as I watch in silence, “There, all done!”

“Woah that's so cool!” It’s the Lightning Ape fighting the four of us with our names carved next to it.

“This is just one day of adventures, people will fill massive books with our battles one day I'm sure of it! Let's get some rest now yeah.” He gives a thumbs up.

“Yeah, sounds good.” I take one last look before we climb down.

He keeps his armor on and lays down, yawning while putting a blanket over himself, “Goodnight Juzo, see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight Leader, we made it through today. Let's fight hard tomorrow too.” He raises a clenched fist and then rolls onto his side.

I take a seat against the tree with my blanket over me and my sword by my feet, all is silent but the chirping of small insects and the occasional howling of animals in the far off distance. Did I do the right thing as leader today, why am I so weak, how could I have fought differently, I didn't have the chance to use Focus Slice either, what if we worked as a team. All of these questions flow through my mind, but I shake them off, the past is the past and tomorrow is a new day of surviving. I have to be strong. I wonder if I can use other weapons for Focus Slice, I grab a nearby stick and hold it in my hand, “Focus Slice.” I whisper, I can feel the mana flowing through my body into the stick and it glows red. I shouldn't swing it so I let go of it. I should try to relax my body and mind until the sun rises. I put my fists together and close my eyes and begin to meditate, breathing in through my nose and out of my mouth slowly, my legs criss-crossed. I can feel the mana flowing through my body, I can control where it goes. So I circulate it along with my breathing, it's as if time speeds up for when I open my eyes Azula is yawning and stretching while licking her dry lips, “Morning.” I say, blinking as my eyes adjust to the rising sun.

“Morning love, how's your body feeling?” She folds the blanket.

“It's fine, thanks for saving me yesterday.” She breathes into her palm.

“Oooh no smelly breath! Yes!” She walks over to me and kisses me, “I will always save you, no matter what I have to fight. I will always save you okay?”

My heart is so warm and happy, “Thank you love.”

She blushes, “Aw you called me Love you're so nice. Should we wake the others?”

“Already up, we have a long day ahead of us. I say we grab what we can afford and head into the next dungeon.” Eva is folding her blanket, “But then again that's your call Umbra. Good morning by the way.” She gives a warm smile.

“No yeah you're right, the faster we do more dungeons the faster we level up and have more Nugz to spend on items and gear. I'll gladly take either one of your input on anything, we're a team.” I smile and give a thumbs up, then begin folding my blanket, “How busted is my armor?”

Azula points to my armor in a pile by the tree, “I couldn't really tell, should we wake Juzo?”

“No he can rest a bit more, he already has his armor on anyway. Well my breast, back plate and left arm piece are completely shattered.” I pick them up only to have them crumble into small broken pieces, “That leaves me with leg guards and my right arm piece, I can make or buy new armor eventually, but I should be fine in the meantime.” I quickly strap my armor on.

“You sure you'll be fine?” Eva asks.

“Yeah I'll dodge as much as I can. Oh yeah how many pills did you mix into the drink last night?” I finish strapping my armor on.

“I put three Health Pills and one Stamina Pill, you had just a sliver of health left and the three put you at seventy-five percent, so each one heals us around twenty-five percent.” Eva grabs her staff.

“Okay thanks that's good to know. Juzo, hey Juzo.” I gently shake him.

“Who is it!” He lunges with fists clenched, “Whoops sorry! Morning everyone!” He laughs while rubbing the back of his head.

“It's time to head out. We should snack a bit first though.” I hand Boar Jerky and cups of water to everyone.

“Let's eat!” We cheer, eating our first breakfast together.