When she came to in-game, she was in her house, snuggled up in bed. TheirWorld worked at a 3x time speed, meaning that in 24 hours of real time, three days would pass in-game. Being around 8 pm in reality, it was now midday in her part of TheirWorld.
Guin climbed out from the covers and stretched. She cast [Spirit Armor] before heading out.
As she walked, she pulled up her map and looked at where the Webspinner marked it. Eager to return to Tik-Tak, she wanted to check on the directions beforehand. In order to increase her dismal skills and test the tutorial zone's benefits, she began jogging back toward the glade.
Once she hit the forest edge, she activated [Fox Form] and shot off. By her figure, it would take her about fifteen minutes to get from her house to the glade at a fox’s pace, though she kept Sathuren’s advice in the back of her mind. While she was running, she was greeted by the sound of bells as a screen popped up:
<< Skill Leveled Up! >>
<<[Fox Form]>>
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<< Shapeshift into a small fox. You cannot cast in this form. This ability cannot be used in the Veil. >>
<< Speed increases by 10%, Attack decreases by 90%. >>
<< Cast Time: 5 Seconds - Duration: 45 Seconds - Cooldown: 1 Minute >>
Level 2! A whole 15-second increase in maintaining the form gained—a precious increase! How many skill levels could she get while she was in the tutorial? Any increased skills would give her a decent head start in the main game.
Satisfied, she calmly entered the glade—
—And was promptly pounced on by Tik-Tak, who must have awaited her arrival. The two played as little foxes for a bit without exchanging words.
“You have returned, I see,” came the Webspinner’s ethereal voice.
Guin and Tik-Tak bowed cordially. “I have, Lady Webspinner.”
“Allow me to give you a blessing of fate before you begin your journey,” The Webspinner’s voice said, and with a flash, both Tik-Tak and Guin were enveloped in a bright blue light that faded after a moment. Reverting to human form, Guin checked her status and saw that she had a buff called [Web of Fate], which granted her +5% Fate for an in-game day. Guin’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. Sadly, it was probably useless in the tutorial, but was this a benefit that she could get in the main game as well? The instinct to befriend the little spider increased significantly as she bowed.
“Many thanks for your blessing, Webspinner,” Guin said.
Meanwhile, Tik-Tak was circling her feet. “Where should we go?” he then asked. “The Webspinner said that we should find Wise by finding the fools... where do we find them?”
Double-checking her map, Guin pointed to the East. “That way, we should be able to go straight. It’s quite far, though, compared to the village.” Transforming, Guin again bowed to the Webspinner before turning to Tik-Tak and saying, “Let’s go!” Together, the two foxes ran off into the woods.
It was quite far. Even with the speed bonus, it took them ten to fifteen minutes to get to the area on the map. Luckily it didn’t take her look to find a bizarre scene in the woods.
“Get out, flea fool!” came a sharp, high-pitched voice from the trees.
“Get down here, Nuts!” came a low, growling voice.
Using a tree as cover, Guin edged closer. The low growls were coming from a beautiful white wolf who was being rather unsightly, standing on his hind legs, shouting up into the tree the other voice had come from. His ear twitched as he looked down at the ground. Falling to all fours, he stalked at a hole in the dirt, promptly shoved his nose in it, and, with hackles raised, shouted what sounded like, “Mumph, mumph, omph, mumph-mumphen!”
Guin couldn’t help but laugh a little, though she was hoping she was wrong. Tik-Tak shuffled closer to her left side as she took another few steps forward.
“Wait!” the high-pitched voice shrieked. “Biter! Hopper! Look!”
The wolf pulled his muzzle out of the hole with an irritated expression and shook off the dirt on his face. “What, Whaat?” He barked. “Unless you are planning on coming down here, I don’t care!”
A small red rabbit’s head appeared from the hole the wolf had had his nose in. “What’s that?” it asked, then pulled it’s head back into the ground as the wolf went to chomp off its head. Whining sharply after his nose hit the ground, he shook his head, sticking out his tongue. Rather than the head of the rabbit, the wolf came up with a mouthful of dirt.
“Who the hell cares? Unless it’s edible—then I’ll care!” The wolf shouted angrily. The wolf’s black eyes move to where Guin and Tik-Tak were. Guin froze. Baring its teeth into a smile, he asked, “What? What are you looking at, tiny fox creatures? Asking to be eaten?”
Stepping in front of Tik-Tak, who had taken to cowering behind her anyway, she glared and prepared to take human form.
“Who wants to be eaten?” Came the voice from the trees.
“Don’t you?” The wolf grinned back up at the tree.
“Who would?” asked the rabbit, appearing from the hole again.
The wolf glared down at the rabbit. “I won’t fall for it again.
The rabbit rolled its blue eyes. “Of course, you will.
“I mean, you do at least once a day,” said the voice in the tree.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Not sure whether she should be amused or concerned, Guin removed her shapeshift state. As the wolf ran growling up to the tree again, Guin knelt next to the rabbit, who was watching her rather than the wolf. It didn’t seem overly surprising that one of the foxes had turned into a human. Its eyes went looking for Tik-Tak, but he had taken to hiding in the bushes nearby.
“Excuse me,” she started. “I’m sorry, but do you think you could help me?”
The wolf came down and looked at her as the rabbit did, and from the tree, a small black squirrel dropped down onto the wolf’s head.
“What do you want?” the squirrel asked, munching on a nut.
“You can’t have my food,” the wolf informed her.
“You can’t have my hole,” the rabbit informed her.
“You can’t have my nuts,” the squirrel said.
“Who wants those?” asked the wolf with a growl. “Get off my head!”
The squirrel lifted his head in a snotty way. “Educated people,” he answered.
“...I don’t want them either,” said the rabbit, distaste lining his voice.
“No one asked you!” The squirrel stomped his foot in agitation, then jumped onto Guin’s shoulder. “See what I’m working with here? You know the value of my nuts, don’t you?” he asked, thrusting his hips forward. Suddenly, Guin felt extremely uncomfortable as she wordlessly opened and closed her mouth, searching for words for the situation.
“Hey, girl,” the wolf grinned. “Why don’t you throw that critter over here?”
“Uh...” Guin managed to get out, “Y-You three wouldn’t happen to be the Fools of the Forest, would you?” Guin asked. “Jeek, Ororos, And Little Lili?”
The squirrel on her shoulder began to try and crack open a nut on her head. Annoyed—and a little creeped out—she threw it off.
“Hey!” The squirrel shouted as he landed off to her side.
“I’m Jeek,” said the rabbit. Its voice was calm, genderless, and almost monotone, like a robot. “Who are you to know us?”
“I don’t have a name for a creature like you,” interjected the prideful, if dense, wolf.
“He’s Ororos,” the squirrel said, putting its little forepaws on its hips. The wolf snapped at the air over the squirrel’s head. “I’m Lili. Loose the ‘little.’”
Tilting her head, she gave it a thought, then bit her lip, trying not to laugh.
“Hey! You! Stop thinking!” the squirrel shouted, throwing his nut to the ground.
Guin regained her posture and forced a smile. “I’m Guin,” she said. “I was sent here by the Webspinner. She told me that you would help me find the owl, Wise?”
The three looked at one another. The wolf, Ororos, sat on his haunches while Lili reached Ororos’s head, and Jeek hopped out of its hole.
“The Webspinner?” Ororos asked to confirm. Guin needed. “Well then,” he said, straightening up. “Indeed. I am Ororos Fenris, Jester of Conquest.”
The red rabbit held its ears proudly erect as it said, “I am Jeek Jack, Jester of War.”
“And I am Lili Breaker, Jester of Pestilence.” The squirrel crossed his arms.
Staring at the three of them, she blinked. Conquest? War? Pestilence? Jesters? Guin furrowed her brow. Something was very wrong with this picture. If she understood, these three were saying that they were related to three of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse of Christianity.
Maybe they were full of shit after all—but as a concept, it fits the world. Sucking on her lip, Guin fell into her thoughts. Belief was a fascinating thing. Four was the valkyrians lucky number, culturally, and it also had a significant role in their religion. Specifically Uram.
In Uram, the Goddess Ur has four Guardians and four Grand Beasts. The Guardians are the bringers of good fortune, while the Grand Beasts are the bringers of calamity. In the lore, when the Ur became angry at the valkyrians for going against her will, she instructed the four guardians to mount the four Grand Beasts to erase the unfaithful. Thus, Yidar became a water plant. Or so the lore says; science suggested otherwise.
When the valkyrians first went to Earth, they arrived in four ships named after Ur’s Grand Beasts—and they just so happened to bear the same colors associated with the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. At the time, traditional Christians lost their minds.
Guin wished she knew more than she did. She made a mental note to look up connections later.
Ororos gave her a toothy grin, apparently thinking she was in shock, “You were expecting something else, weren’t you? I bid you welcome, Candidate, to the Court of the Harbingers.”
“...Harbingers?” she muttered. If four was the magic number, where was the other one?
“Sent by the Webspinner...” said Jeek, relaxing a bit.
“Certainly, it’s a rare thing,” said Lili, but Ororos, who had been so talkative before, had grown quiet with his toothy grin. Guin cringed. Somehow, it reminded her of Sathuren—though she wasn’t sure that made her like more or less.
“As for Wise, we could help you find her,” Jeek said. “What do you think, Lili? Oro?”
Ororos shook Lili off his head and stepped on him before he could talk. “We can help you, little girl,” he said, sauntering forward. Guin felt her eyebrow twitch, and she crossed her arms without thinking. “But... Say, could you go out and fetch me something?”
“Oro-” Jeek started, but Ororos stepped on him too.
“Say,” the white wolf continued. “Would you be willing to find something for me? I don’t remember what it was, but... It’s something vital... Ah—but you are but a child; perhaps it is too difficult...”
Though she was sure that her face had gone from thoughtful to agitated while Ororos was speaking to her, Guin could see what was happening. This was the next part of the quest. She would not yet be able to meet Wise, but maybe there would be more rewards for accepting the wolf’s added request. She thought about the delicious +5 to fate she had gotten from the Webspinner and let out an agitated sigh. “Can you tell me anything about it?”
Ororos grinned wider, showing his very sharp, white teeth. “Very good, child. Very good.” The other two wiggled out from underneath his paws and glared at him, but said nothing. “There is this... Thing. It—I just can’t remember what it’s called. It’s soft and purple, with a dash of red. It’s delicate and poisonous to those of the Mortal Realm, but it’s a powerful medicine to those of our realm. Now what was it called... I don’t remember,” he shrugged. “Find something that fits my description, and bring it up to me.”
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Ororos, the White Wolf, has asked you to find something: “It’s soft and purple, with a dash of red. It’s delicate and poisonous to those of the Mortal Realm, but it’s a powerful medicine to those of our realm.” This quest is optional. It can be skipped.>> < < Looking at the description, Guin paused before she sent the window away. The properties of this ‘Item’ that Ororos was looking for sounded familiar. She pulled up her skill window and clicked on [Herbalism]. The flower the lady under the tree had been holding before she found the Veil Ants had sounded similar. Through the [Herbalism] window, she was able to pull up an image of the Milaou flower and it seemed to fit the description. But where would she find it? The three of them probably wouldn’t tell her. To them, she nodded. “Very well. I will find this thing for you.”