I grab onto Sophie's outstretched hand and pull myself upwards with a smile still on my face. Then a window appears before me asking if I would like to join her party, I mutter "Yes", the window disappears from my vision, and a bright light surrounds me before vanishing after a few seconds.
"Welcome to the party Ryan Mitchel.", she then says.
"Thanks for having me... Sophie.", I reply back.
"Of course, of course, but hmmm... Your name sounds familiar. Where have I heard it from?", she says slightly bending forwards with her left hand on her hip, and her right hand on her chin.
"Ah! You were the one who got the skill point reward thingy.", she continues.
"Uh, yeah.", I say absentmindedly, drawn in by the beauty that her expressive facial expressions effortlessly exude.
"So what skills did you get, and what do they do?", she then asks.
"I got some fire magic skills and a skill called remote spell control."
"Ooo, that sounds like it will be useful."
"I'm glad you think so.", I say back, slightly embarrassed.
"Well come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the group.", she says grabbing onto my hand, and pulling me along to a group of people standing by the red gate.
After around a minute of waling, we arrive in front of a familiar group of people, but of only four people. Sophie then begins the introductions of the other members starting with Dylan once again, but her introductions start slowly start fading away, as my mind starts drifting into my own little world.
'Why are there only four people.', I think as I look over the faces of the member of the group, quickly noticing it is John who is missing.
'Did I change something? Hmm... I guess it might be because I got the first reward, and that Leon got killed by Casimir. Well, it doesn't really matter. It shouldn't affect the battles against the slimes given that he didn't really help at all during them; at least I hope it won't.'
Then I am suddenly jolted from my thoughts from the rapid waving of a hand in front of my face by Sophie.
"Hello, Earth to Ryan. Are you there?", she says, before stopping after she notices that my eyes have refocused.
"Sorry about that, I was lost in my thoughts for a second there.", I say slightly embarrassed.
"So back to what I was saying; I was trying to introduce you to Alice, who as you can see has a magic staff just like you, so maybe you will have something to talk about.", she says gesturing to Alice.
"And lastly, I am Sophie, I am the party leader, and I wield a sword.", she says patting the scabbard on her waist.
"Well now that introductions are finished, it seems like it's about time to head into the tower.", she says as she begins leading the party to the red gate. Soon Sophie is already disappearing into motes of fluttering white light that disappear quickly, followed by the rest of the party, to which I hurriedly follow, not wanting to be left behind.
***
That fresh scent of nature once again fills my nostrils, shocking me away from the remnant feelings of apprehension that I still am holding onto. Looking ahead, I see the party searching around for where to go, but this time I notice a little anxiousness on their face, and a slight hurriedness to their movements, but I go to the nearby river to drink some water, the same as I have in my previous attempts tp clear this floor.
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Easing myself onto the slightly rocky shore, I scoop some water into my hands, and then into my mouth, once and then twice, before thinking it is taking to long, and dunking my head into the slightly chilly waters. After around 5 seconds, I lift my head from the river, water dripping down from my face rapidly, and I slick back my wet hair. Soon I hear a crunching sound behind me followed by a tap on my shoulder. I then unhurriedly turn around, and am faced with Sophie's face mere inches away from mine.
"Hi there Sophie.", I say unfazed.
"Oh you're no fun.", she then says light heartedly.
"Was there something you wanted?", I then ask.
"Oh yeah... I wanted to know if you had any idea of where to go, the others still haven't figured out any plan on what to do yet."
"We could go to that building in the distance.", I say pointing at the distant shadow in the distance, and shortly after saying that I feel myself getting chills down my back.
"That sounds like a great idea.", she says, and she then starts walking over to where Dylan is to share he newfound goal with him and the rest of the group.
Taking my attention from her figure, I look down at one of my arms, the one I pointed at the shadow with, and on that arm I see goosebumps covering it. I then start rubbing down that arm to get rid of them, and shortly after stand up and wait for the group who is now walking over to the river bank to see the building's shadow in the distance.
"See, I told you.", Sophie then says after arriving at the river and pointing in the distance.
"Alright, alright, you don't have to get so worked up about it.", Dylan then says.
"Fine, but we should get going.", Sophie then says with a slight pouting expression on her face.
She then walks to the front of the group, points forwards, and says, "Onwards.", with the wind flowing through her hair, carrying a sweet scent to me, standing near the back of the group. Immediately, the group begins to follow her lead, and the sound of silence during the next hour or so, is only accompanied by the sounds of pebbles crunching beneath our feet, the soft sounds of rustling leaves, and the relaxing sound flowing water.
***
"Hey what's that?", Sophie calls out.
Looking to where she is facing I see a small green blob aimlessly drifting around the base of a tree. Sophie then begins to walk forward towards said blob, but I call out to her, saying, "Party leader could you step aside for a moment."
"Huh, what for?", she then replies.
"I think it may be a monster, and if it is it would be better to take care of it from a distance, as we do not know what it is capable of yet.", I then say before I start up my chant for my fire arrows.
A dim red light begins to slowly gather around the end of my staff that is pointed at the still clueless slime in the distance, but as my chant starts, my words draw the attention of the slime and it starts rolling towards me, slowly at first before picking up more speed within moments. After the slime has closed about half the distance between us, one arrow of flame fires out in a straight line towards the incoming green blob, and upon impact a small cloud of steam erupts from the area of impact, and after a few seconds the steam drifts away revealing a single gold coin laying on the ground. Then I begin walking over to the coin and bend down to pick it up, but I hear Sophie say something from behind me as grasp the coin.
"I could have taken care of that. It didn't look so hard."
"Sorry Sophie, I guess it wasn't as dangerous as I thought, but we still should be careful in the future."
"I guess you're right."
"Here.", I say sticking out my hand, "You can have this coin as an apology."
Taking the coin from my palm, she says, "Why thank you sir.", with a smile and a small curtsy.
Then Sophie turns back towards the shadow in the distance and says, "Well let's get back to it.", before walking forwards.
Following her lead, I think to myself, 'I'll make sure these times don't end.', as I renew my determination to reach a better end for her and the rest of the group.