“Let’s think about this first,” Brian said.

“What’s there to think about? We need those skill points,” Jack said.

“It’s too dangerous. We know jack shit about what’s out there,” Brian said.

“Listen, the only way we can get skill points to spend is by completing those challenges. The skill crystals are shit. And even the achievement skills are shit, and that’s even if we manage to get lucky enough to unlock any,” Jack said.

“We could die. Very easily. I’m out of bullets. Maybe if we had bullets.”

“Then what do we do? If we don’t get to unlock mana? Just gonna slave away here forever?” Jack said.

“Hey, listen. It just said explore. It didn’t say anything about fighting any monsters. I say we just slowly grind our way there. Take a peak. Avoid any monsters. And then get back. Whopty dupty, free skill points,” Lucas said.

“It’s still risky,” Brian said.

“These Balloon Monsters are easy as fuck. What’s the worst that can happen? A bigger balloon? Ohh I’m sooooo scared,” Lucas said.

“Lucas, don’t be a dumbass. I agree with Brian that it is a big risk. But one we have to take. What do you say Brian?”

“Okay, fuck it. But we do it my way. We stay in close formation and we get there before it gets dark. We do not do shit if it’s dark. And we just take a peek and leave. Even if we see fucking, money growing on trees or some shit,” Brian said.

…

Grinding was becoming boring. They headed farther inland and saw the trees start to grow taller. But the monster type stayed the same. Because of Brian’s paranoia they were not using their normal grinding formation. They were staying in close formation next to each other. Brian was holding the golf club. Jack was holding the machete. Lucas was in the middle of the formation and in front, holding the baseball bat.

When the Balloon Monster was close enough, Lucas said, “Oh shit! I think this one has a crystal! I can kind of sense a cluster of mana inside it!”

He swung his bat and killed the monster. As predicted, it had a crystal.

“Shit we’re lucky today!” Lucas said.

“Maybe it’s just that the farther in you go the higher the danger or some shit? Or mana? I dunno,” Jack said.

“Sorry, I can’t really tell if the mana is higher or lower here. My sense isn’t that detailed,” Lucas said.

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Lucas handed the skill crystal to Jack since it was his turn now to take one.

He crushed it and the yellow energy flowed into his arm.

Sand to Glass Conversion Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

“Well, this is new. Useless, but new,” Jack said and explained which skill he got.

“So, how does it work?” Brian asked.

“Ehm, I’m not sure. If I look in my memories, I have a fully detailed memorization of this weird circle with weird symbols on it. I can draw it now on the ground,” Jack said and drew it on the ground.

“That looks freaky,” Lucas said.

They continued slowly grinding inland until they noticed that the trees in the forest were very slowly starting to get bigger and have more yellow leaves. They were at the border between zones.

“Maybe we should turn around now?” Brian said.

“Fuck no. Not until we get that fucking notification saying we got the skill points,” Lucas said.

Brian sighed.

They kept walking and killing Balloon Monsters until they saw it.

There was a distinct border between the two zones. The zone they were currently in had green grass and brown dirt. The zone farther ahead had yellow grass and red dirt.

“Fuck, give us the fucking points!” Brian said.

“I think we have to go in before it gives us the achievement,” Jack said.

All three of them were silent and stared into the new zone, trying to spot any movement.

They looked at each other and nodded and slowly walked into the new zone in close formation.

After ten steps in, they finally received the notification and stopped.

Challenge completed: Explore farther inland

Reward: 1 skill point

“Fuck yeah!” Lucas screamed.

About 30 meters away, Jack spotted a big wolf rushing towards them.

“Watch out! Wolf!” Jack yelled.

They didn’t have time to prepare any real defense except for getting their weapons in front of them and staring at the wolf rushing towards them.

It lunged for Lucas with its mouth wide open.

Lucas grabbed his bat with both hands and reflexively brought it in front of his face.

The big wolf took a bite of the bat. Its momentum pushed Lucas to the ground and it landed on top of him. While it tried to bite his throat, Jack swung his machete and landed a lucky hit on its neck. Blood sprayed from the wolf’s neck and hit Jack in the face and eyes.

Just as Jack was about to blindly swing again, Brian yelled, “Don’t swing!” And jumped onto the wolf’s back and wrapped his arms around its neck.

While Brian was on its back, the wolf was still trying to bite Lucas’ face off. Lucas was using his arms to keep its head away. And Brian was holding its neck to keep it from reaching Lucas.

By the time Jack wiped the blood off his eyes and could see again and ready to attack, the big wolf was dead.

There was blood everywhere.

Lucas got away from under the wolf. There were claw marks on his torso from the wolf’s paws.

“Fuck! Piece of shit!” Lucas said. Brian got off the wolf. Lucas kicked it in the face.

“Fuck me. At least we got the skills. Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Lucas said.

Brian and Jack were staring at him with an uncomfortable expression.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas said.

“Look at your hands…”

Lucas looked down and screamed when he saw the missing fingers.