WILD LIFE: CHAPTER 15 ~WANDERLUST~

The highlands were a sight to behold. Lush greenery spread across mountainous terrain, massive trees every so often would litter the landscape. Endless bushes and hills provided cover for the travelers and wildlife of the Hines Highlands. From the less threatening inhabitants to the more dangerous ones, nothing in this place seemed harmless. Hope was absolutely beaming with delight at the top of every hill as they were greeted with new scenery.

*schhwaff* *schhwaff*

Sneak Attack Critical Hit!

Critical Hit!

-Orc Scout has been slain!

"Incoming." Hope yelled as she dashed towards Amanda.

While four orcs came running over the hill towards her Amanda readied the tower shield and beat on it to draw their attention. When the first orc made contact with her shield he was knocked back into the others by a shield pummel as hope loosed five-fold flurries from a distance at the panicking orcs. Between Amanda's broadsword and Hope's arrows the orcs weren't very difficult to deal with when the ranged attackers had been dealt with first.

More than a month had passed since they wandered into the highlands. During the beginning of this journey Amanda and Hope brushed up on their tactics. It didn't take long for the pair to get accustomed to each others habits. Hope would initiate combat for the most part with her long range sneak attacks while Amanda lied in wait. As the opponents were drawn in, be they orcs or cougars, the knight would draw their attention while Hope picked them off with her longbow. Between her buffs and healing abilities Hope was more than capable of keeping Amanda from losing a substantial amount of health. Even though the battles were going well Hope couldn't help but be a little annoyed every time she watched the knight eat attacks that could be deflected or flat out avoided. With little thought she decided that this knight needed to be trained.

Amanda had noticed over the course of the past few days that Hope was much more interested in the highlands than she was in fighting its denizens. The wanderer would go out of her way to avoid enemies and track down places that she found pleasing. This resulted in some of the weirdest feeling time Amanda had spent in royal road. Instead of the usual party mentality of hunting down every enemy you could find and grinding experience or items, Hope was more interested in the land, the world. Once in a while Amanda would follow Hope to find that she'd been led to a unique looking tree or beautiful lake. This resulted in frequent breaks and delicious hand cooked meals. Now that Hope had gotten to a decent level in handicraft and sculpture mastery, if she activated her scavenger skill Hope was able to skin and slice up monsters a decent amount before they faded to grey.

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A new Sustained Skill has been generated: Scavenger

ScavengerThe ability to sustain a monster's corpse after death in order to gather materials. As skill level rises scavenging becomes more effective and corpses last longer.

-Costs 5 mp/sec.

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At one particularly well hidden lake that rested in between two rather large hills and received shade from a nearby mountain Hope decided that it was time for another break.

"This is definitely new." Amanda said

"What do you mean?" Hope asked

"Well I've never traveled like this before. I explored a lot of Aidern with the guild but that was all business, hunt monsters, find dungeons, make camp, hunt, explore, rinse repeat. I've never explored just for the sake of enjoying the view before." she explained pointing out towards the lake as the setting sun hit its surface.

As she was setting up the pan and pulling out some goat meat Hope replied. "Most people come to this world to fight and play with friends... you know why I came here. You should've seen this one coming Amanda, I'm a wanderer."

"I saw it coming alright, it's just that knowing what's gonna happen and seeing it are two different things... it feels like this is the way I was meant to see the world. You've changed the way I see... if that makes sense." she tried to explain

Hope smiled as she pulled out some leftover rice and the last of her seaweed that she'd bought in Restia. "I'm glad you seem to be enjoying our journey Amanda." she said while slicing up an avocado and dumping some diced sweet potatoes in batter with it.

"I love it, this is the most fun I've had so far... fighting the jormungand with you, watching you interact with the npcs and now exploring with you. All of them are incredible experiences. They easily make it worth coming to Versailles." Amanda explained as Hope dropped both battered ingredients into a boiling pot of oil. "I'm glad I met you Hope."

Hope blushed slightly as she was rolling and slicing up three different types of sushi. "Dinners ready Amanda, goat, avocado or sweet potato sushi. Enjoy!"

*ahm-nom nom nom nom nom nom nom*

-You are well fed!

*ding*

Assorted SushiThis detailed comfort food dish can be prepared by any expert cook.

- Health, Mana and Stamina regeneration increased by 25%.

- All attributes are increased by 20.

- Maximum Health and Mana increased by 8%.

- These effects last for 6 hours.

"Thank you" Amanda said as she wiped her mouth.

"You're welcome, how was it?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

"I suppose not but I do enjoy the praise." Hope grinned

"Sometimes I feel like I'm eating art."

"You can blame Freya for that, messing with my charm and art stats." Hope laughed

*ding*

Charm has been permanently increased by 10

Art has been permanently increased by 10

'Oy! Cut that out!'

"Speaking of which it's a good thing we figured out why all those orcs kept finding us from a mile away."

"Sorry about that." Hope said feeling a bit embarrassed

"I don't think you could've known that your title was gonna draw them to us like that. The hood seems to be doing the trick of hiding your succubus aura." Amanda teased

Hope looked at her from under the cloth hood sourly. "Please don't call it that.... oh yeah, would you mind if I gave you a bit of training?"

"For what?" Amanda asked

"Deflecting and avoiding attacks more effectively could save your life Amanda."

Amanda looked away a bit embarrassed. "Well I've always been a little clumsy to be honest, I thought that since this is a game world I could use it to fix my habits a bit... seems I still need to work a little harder."

"Rather than call it clumsy I'd say you've just never been trained to fight, have you?"

"I just picked my class and started swinging, Guy and I figured the best way to learn would be to fight."

"Live combat experience is only half of it... you know Guy from RL?"

Amanda realized what she'd just let slip. "I wasn't hiding it or anything but were cousins."

"That explains a few things, are you sure it was okay to leave the guild?" Hope asked

"... I think so, guy won't be mad but I'd feel bad if the guild fell apart because of me." Amanda said a bit somberly.

"Well let's not dwell on it too much, come on get in your stance."

Hope has challenged Amanda to a duel.

Amanda has agreed to duel.

-3

-2

-1

*Start!*

"Alright I'll be coming at you with my blade try not to take direct hits with the shield, I'll start slow so that you can get used to turning and taking glancing blows. Just because you have that shield it doesn't mean you need to take hits, backstep or sidestep when you can. The less damage you take the less stress you put on the healers."

After casting rejuvenation on her Hope began to attack Amanda from different angles and different sides, when Hope got a little bored she started to throw in helm splitters and cleaves. After about an hour Hope wasn't very pleased with Amanda's progress and was feeling frustrated, especially since she'd started to hear someone snickering at them from behind of her.

With one particularly colorful bout of laughter Hope spun around and threw her machete at the annoying penguin... who turned out to be a small turtle about twenty inches long from head to tail... Before the turtle could escape into the lake Hope activated movement boost and caught him by the tail. Lifting the turtle to eye level Hope asked "What's so funny geezer?"

The turtle was incredibly shocked that Hope had not only noticed him but caught him as well. After regaining his senses he cast a lightning spell...

*BZZZZT*

"Ow! You little jerk!" Hope shouted before pulling out her longbow and pinning the offender to the ground. Amanda erupted into a gale of laughter which only helped to annoy Hope more. 'You'll regret that turtle...' she thought

The turtle now realized that Hope had understood him and spoke to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you could understand me... I meant no offense. The two of you are just going about this all wrong." the old turtle explained

"What do you mean?"

"You said it yourself, actual experience is only half the battle."

Hope understood what he meant and immediately kicked herself. "Oops..."

"I'll say, can you release me now?"

"Of course." Hope answered as she put away her bow.

*light-bulb*

"I'd like to repay you for the advice."

The turtle looked up at the odd elf and said "What can you give me?"

"I can make you stronger if you stay with me and become my familiar for a while."

"I've no real desire for strength... I'm the lord of the lake. That's enough for me."

"After you become stronger you become a holy beast and obtain a portion of Freya's power."

The turtle turned that over for a moment. "What's in it for you?"

"I learn to harness a portion of your power and bestow it to my allies and through our bond I gain nature affinity further increasing my own strength."

"If it's such a good deal for the both of us why are you still alone?" the turtle asked

"I've already set two familiars free." Hope said as she displayed both of her aspects to the turtle.

"Interesting... you have a deal elf, I will allow you to reward both of us." he said haughtily

*ding*

You have become friends with an unknown turtle, choose a name for your familiar.

"Sparky" she answered shaking off the numbness of her arm.

As Sparky began to return to his resting place where he could continue to watch the duel he was suddenly turned upside down... Hope had begun to fasten a leather belt around the turtle.

"Might I ask exactly what it is that you're doing to me?" Sparky asked a bit annoyed

"Like you said, Amanda needs to see how to deflect incoming blows properly... and I need a shield." Hope explained absently while Amanda gaped at her. Amanda was very aware that Hope had the materials and ability to craft a decent shield on the spot.

Sparky broke out into a cold sweat. "Surely a nice piece of wood or something could do the trick?" he asked hopefully.

"Nah it needs to be shield-like enough for this to work... it's not like this is a bad deal for you Sparky."

"How so?"

"Your shell will become stronger through the training... probably."

The turtle cried out inside. "I don't think my shell can take such a beating from a blade Missy!"

"Oh don't worry about that, I can keep healing you with my magic." Hope said absently "Please don't shock Amanda."

Sparky resigned himself to fate as Amanda steeled herself to lay a beating on the poor turtle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few hours of training Amanda and Hope had begun to switch roles back and forth. Hope was very pleased with her progress. Amanda was beginning to enjoy combat more now that she wasn't just acting like a meat shield. By some small miracle Sparky was also incredibly pleased with the progress of his shell.

"I don't believe it..." he said

"You're looking good Sparky." Hope said

*ding*

Familiarity with Sparky has massively increased. You have become intimate.

"I'm feeling good to." Sparky said as he inspected his now unique battle scarred shell.

Hope thought 'I can't believe that worked... how do you punish a turtle?', obviously using him as a shield wasn't enough.

"Thank you for the lessons Hope, I can't wait to get into some combat now." Amanda said happily.

"I'm not looking forward to it quite as much as you are Amanda... it took me a lot of willpower to teach you how to be a better tank." Hope spoke regretfully

"Why's that?"

Hope flexed her hand suggestively. "I'll have less chances to use "mend wounds" on you now." she said with an impish grin that earned her a smack.

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With Amanda tanking better and sparky firing off lightning spells the trio were able to take on larger groups of orcs with relative ease. After one intense cougar battle it was decided that Sparky would be mounted on Amanda's back while fighting the predators. The last one had picked him up in its mouth and tried to run away while Hope laughed hysterically almost forgetting that Sparky was named Sparky for a reason as he stopped the cougar long enough for Amanda to rescue the traumatized turtle. Amanda felt really odd with a turtle looking over her shoulder and muttering what she could only assume were spell incantations.

"If things get dicey throw Sparky at them like a stun grenade and run!" Hope yelled back to Amanda as her passenger erupted into a fit of garbled angry sounding speech.

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When the sun began to set Hope stopped Amanda and asked her to climb up the slope she was on. Once Amanda was atop the slope next to her Hope pointed out a foreign structure.

"What do you think that's doing out here in the highlands." Hope asked

"Looks like a dungeon to me." Amanda said

"Ooooh, other than the goblin ruins and the mines I'm not sure I've been in what you'd consider a dungeon."

Amanda gaped at Hope. "That's usually the preferred way to level up you know?"

"Is anything I do the preferred way Amanda?" Hope retorted

Amanda sighed and said "Well I guess we can check it out... worse comes to worst we can just run away."

"Alright... it sounds like fun anyways." Hope commented "Oh... Sparky do you know anything about that place?"

"Ahhhh, yes I know a bit."

"Care to fill us in?" Hope said a bit annoyed with the haughty turtle.

"An order of knights built that ruin as the final resting place for the founder of their order... that is all." the turtle said proudly as Hope began to spin him in circles.

*ding*

Melodas the Shieldbearer

You have a found the knight ruins hidden among the highlands. Explore the hidden ruins and learn of the knight whom they were built to honor.Quest rank: DRequisitesKnight

Level : 80RewardsOptional: Hidden Profession

"I accept." Amanda said

Quest accepted

"Share quest Melodas the Shieldbearer, Party."

"Oooo nice, I accept." Hope said

"We're definitely completing this quest." Amanda said adamantly

"Happy?" Hope asked

"I will be once I've got that profession... the shieldbearer was his title so obviously he had a class that'll suit me well." Amanda explained

"It would be pretty mean of the developers if this wasn't a tanking profession we're after." Hope said sourly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While they approached the open area of the ruins an odd noise sounded as the entrance began to close.

"We won't make it in!" Hope shouted

At that moment Amanda revved up her arm with Sparky gripped between her knuckles and threw the turtle full speed.

*Bang* *chachachacha* *chachahchacha*

Sparky was now lodged in-between the turning gears as the door stopped closing...

"Amanda that was..."

Amanda looked at Hope "I'm soooo sorry! I don't know what I was thinking! I mean he's not even my turtle."

"Amanda that was inspired!" Hope said absolutely beaming with delight as Amanda put her palm to her forehead.

"You're a bad role model Hope."

*Crack*

"The door!" they both shouted while running towards the entrance.

*ding*

DUNGEON: You are the very first players to discover "The Tomb of Melodas."

Reward: Fame +150.

For one week, double EXP and double item drops. The rarest items will drop from killing the first monster of each type. Subsequent kills will drop common items.

"Just a little longer Sparky you can do it!" Hope shouted

*Crack*

"Hurry up and save me!" the turtle yelled

"Hang on Sparky we're almost there!" Hope shouted as Amanda gaped at her. They had both made it inside before Hope shouted the first time....

"Cut that out and help the poor turtle!" Amanda admonished her

"WHAT!?" Sparky yelled out as Hope took hold of the leather strap and yanked him out of the gears.

*PWING* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Sparky was sent flying and crashing off of the inner walls.

*Applause* *ooooh*

Amanda and Hope both watched as the turtle landed in front of them and woozily made it to his feet. "How dare you do that to me! I am a lake lord. I am wise and powerful!" he shouted as...

"crackle* *SPLIT*

.. his shell slit open and fell to both sides leaving the old turtle ranting and nude.

Amanda fell into a bout of helpless laughter while Hope stifled a laugh and tried to salvage the situation.... and the shell...

-You have received a battle-scarred tortoise shell

"Sparky! I'm glad you're okay ol' buddy"

"My shell...." he said sadly

"Wow I had no idea you were such a..." Hope thought for a moment "Sexy Beast!" at that Amanda began to roll on the ground with tears in her eyes from laughing too hard.

*ding*

Familiarity with Sparky has massively increased. You have become very intimate.

"Well... we turtles are shy beings Missy. Certainly a sight to behold out of our shells."

"You're much more handsome this way Sparky." Hope said adding on more praise while stifling a few dozen laughs.

*ding*

Familiarity with Sparky has been increased.

"Now then! We've a ruin to explore, allow me to light the way." Sparky said confidently as he began to glow and walk down the chamber.

Hope turned to Amanda and worked desperately to stop herself from laughing at the naked, glorious, glowing turtle she had named Sparky as he triumphantly sauntered into the ruins alone.

"You're pure evil!" Amanda claimed

"All in good fun Amanda... all in good.. *pffft* ahahahaahaaaaa"

*ding*

Familiarity with Sparky has been decreased.

"Son of a penguin!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the trio began to descend the stairs of the tomb it opened up into a massive underground chamber without walls. Leaning over the railing of the stairs Hope spoke up "This isn't just a tomb... these are catacombs Amanda... and this is huge."

"You really couldn't tell at all from up top... then again this is all hidden below the surface."

"I guess the knights buried more than their beloved founder down here?"

"Looks like it."

"This ought to be fun... what sort of monsters do you think are down here?"

"Undead would be my bet." Amanda answered

"Any tips on fighting undead?" Hope asked

"Oh, first time?"

"Yeah"

"Well basically there's no flesh so blunt attacks tend to be more effective... along with healing magic... I wonder if nature healing magic would work?"

"Give me a second I'll ask."

"Wait a second you can't bother a goddess over every little thing..."

"Then she shouldn't have given me a way to bother her." Hope claimed nonchalantly

'Freya will my healing magic be effective against the undead?'

'One second dear'

*ding*

Rejuvenation has been augmented!

Divine RejuvenationA ranged buff that heals the target over time.

-Holy.

-Heals 3% of the targets health every five seconds.

-While Benevolent Succubus is active healing becomes more effective.

-Duration time = 60 seconds.

-Costs 75 mp.

*ding*

Mend Wounds has been augmented!

Divine TouchA spell that requires physical contact to heal the target. Also repairs physical ailments and disabilities of npc characters.

-Holy.

-Healing formula (nature affinity + wisdom = x/2 + 6% per skill level)

-While Benevolent Succubus is active healing becomes more effective.

-Costs 50 mp.

'... gee thanks'

'Anytime dear, anytime' the goddess laughed as Hope turned back to Amanda.

"Yeah it'll work now." she said

"Now?"

"Freya augmented my healing magic to have holy properties..."

Amanda gave her a flat look. "Handy isn't she?"

Hope laughed as Amanda slipped then slid down a dozen stairs on her bum. "I'm not scared of you goddess!" Amanda called out as the stairs behind them began to collapse. "I'm sorry!"

Amanda, Hope and Sparky began a mad dash to the other end of the collapsing stairs and barely made it in time.

"What is it with you and Blindside?" Hope asked her out of breath.

"Sorry... hahahaaa" Amanda giggled with one hand on the back of her head.

"Well, we're alive for now..." Hope spoke while looking back up towards the entrance. "Let's see if we can't find another way out..." Hope turned back to look in the direction of the passage leading further in. "... what was that?" she asked Amanda who in turn quickly spun around.

"What was what?" Amanda asked

"I saw something..."

"Trying to scare me?" Amanda asked fearfully

"No I'm serious... it was a white blur out of the corner of my eye... if it wasn't for my perception I'd have never seen it." as Amanda began to panic a bit Hope meticulously went over everything she had read in preparation for her travels.

*tatatatatat* *tatatatatat*

Amanda took a step back towards Hope. "Go say hi Sparky."

"No thanks" he answered dryly

Hope smacked her fist into an open hand. "Ghouls! I bet it was a ghoul!" she shouted in triumph as multiple disgusting creatures rapidly approached.

Amanda steeled herself for combat as Hope loosed arrows towards the agile undead beasts.

*schhwaff* *schhwaff*

Hope frowned "My arrows aren't doing much Amanda."

Amanda bashed a ghoul off of her shield "I think cutting does fine against ghouls Hope!"

"Right sorry" she said unsheathing her machete and approaching Amanda from behind. As one of the ghouls moved to flank the knight Hope stepped in while activating fury stance and cleave. In a single horizontal attack the ghoul was knocked aside. To Hope's dismay her attack had barely hurt the creature. "Blade isn't doing much good either."

"I've noticed!" Amanda shouted back as Hope dashed towards the ghoul she had pinned to the wall.

Hope passed by the knight and forced her hand over the ghouls face nearly crushing it in her grip. "Divine Touch!"

*GRYAAAAAAAA!*

-Lesser Ghoul has been slain!

In moments the ghoul faded from existence. "Amanda pin, or knock them out. Sparky stun them as best you can." Hope commanded

After a few intense minutes all seven ghouls that had come out to greet them were gone.

"This isn't going to work." Amanda said

"I've still got the silver ingots from Fort Odin... this is a fantasy world suppose silver would work?" Hope asked

"I don't see why not... make something crude and test it out."

Roughly ten minutes later...

-You have received Balanced Silver Throwing Knife

Balanced Silver Throwing KnifeTypeKnifeQualityFineDurability30 / 30Artistic Value15CreatorHopeAttack30-35A short tiny knife, specifically built for throwing. This knife is very sharp and made with silver.RestrictionAgility: 110Effect(s):

Increased throwing velocity.

Effective against undead and supernatural creatures.

"That's crude?" Amanda asked

"Yeah silver will work... " Hope said absently ignoring her comment.

"Well that's good news."

"This will take us a while... and we're in danger here, we need a safe place for me to work."

"Agreed" Amanda looked at the turtle. "Lead the way Sparky."

The turtle sighed, lit himself up and began down the path... then stopped and turned to Hope. "You're a blacksmith!?!?!!?" he cried out

"... sort of?" Hope said a bit shocked by the turtles reaction.

"... why was I used as a shield?" Sparky asked her

"..."

"..."

"You made an incredible shield Sparky, I mean really I've never seen a better shield in this world. You could top the legendary shields of legendary heroes with ease. The pure beauty and magnificence of your powerful shell is enough to make all shields on Versailles explode with jealousy!" Hope claimed

*ding*

Familiarity with Sparky has been increased.

"Well that's obvious, come on we've got a dungeon to explore Missy!"

Hope looked towards Amanda and grinned as she followed after Sparky.

"The worst role model ever..." Amanda said under her breath as she followed the pair.

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DISCUSSION

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Finished with the first game I've been playing... I decided that instead of making people wait till I'm done with the other three games as well, plus whatever anime I've got to catch up on this season... SAO, Akame ga Kill, Mahouka, etc. I'll be trying to write a chapter in between all my other activities... this may lead to me being unfocused and making stupid mistakes, sorry about that haha...

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I've been working on this chapter from start to finish for over 12 hours now and I'm beat... whoa 1:35 am.... goodnight peoples!

Enjoy!

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Proofread by lomie0.