I felt the ground shake as the boar charged and braced myself for the impact. I heard a whoosh as the air was parted above me and then a loud squeal. I opened one eye a little and saw the tell-tale signs of a defeated enemy, the multicolored shards, falling around a large weapon that looked similar to a spear. I followed the spear handle all the way to the gloved hand. I heard the clank of armor and then an arm was thrust in front of me. After a moment of hesitation, I grabbed it and was hauled to my feet, and found myself face to face with a green haired wolf eared man.
“Sorry for stepping in,” he said grinning. “Name’s Padraig.”
“I’m Marilynn,” I said shaking myself off. “And it’s ok, I was not exactly in a position to complain.”
He laughed at that statement. “I suppose you’re correct there.” He spun his weapon behind him, and it vanished. “This area is a little bit tougher on new people.”
“Yeah,” I said bashfully, scratching the back of my head. “I was surprised by the boar.”
“Yeah they’re a little tougher than the normal pigs.” He smiled. “So how new are you?”
“I just got it today,” I said blushing. “You could really tell huh?”
“You’re not comfortable moving around here. Don’t worry about it though, the game is really new.” He walked over and picked up my sword from where the boar had managed to send it flying. “You went for the bastard sword I see?” He held it out for me to take back.
I nodded, grasping the offered hilt. “It was the one that felt right.” Now was the first time I actually got a good look at him. So, he was definitely a Beastkin, with wolf ears and tail. He had a pretty sharp face with short green hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing heavier armor than me and looked a lot more confident than I was sure I looked.
“Well that is the important part of this, you gotta feel comfortable with what you’re doing.” He appeared to look me over quickly. “You appear to still be using default gear, we should go back into town and fix that.”
“We?”
“That’s what I said isn’t it?” He grinned at me. “I’ve been playing this for a little bit, so I’ll show you the ropes.”
“Thank you,” I said smiling a little. “I appreciate it.”
“No problem. Now we do have to walk all the way back to Akranes. Once we get you your new gear I’ll show you how to fight in this world.”
As we walked, I felt a little nervous. This was the first time I had talked to someone casually since Elizabeth. I constantly felt like I would say something wrong or would trip over my own two feet. Padraig on the other hand seemed to be sure of himself. He told me that he’d been playing the game for a little bit now. Which made sense since he appeared to have better equipment than me. He showed me how to avoid combat with the monsters, which he called mobs. So it was only a few minutes and then we arrived back at Akranes.
As we entered the city it seemed to have cleared out some. He paused in front of a raven on a post. “Marilynn, what type of fighter do you see yourself as?”
“W-what do you mean?” I looked at him questioningly.
“Well right now do you want to tank damage or deal it?” He put his fist against his chest. “I am the former. Heavy armor and a long weapon mean I can fight multiple enemies. However, that’s just the style I like.”
“I see.” I thought for a moment. I didn’t want to stand still. It made me think to much of my life in the hospital. I needed to move about and be free. “I suppose I would want to move quickly?”
“Alright! So we’ll get you some leather armor.” He gestured at me to follow him. He led me to a small shop. It had several things of armor. “These should be in your price range. Most of these won’t do much but it is better than nothing.”
I nodded and approached the stand. A status screen popped up. It was a list of the items. I had no clue what to pick though. I looked up at Padraig confused. “What exactly should I get?”
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“Just basic leather armor would be fine. It is lightweight and allows for freedom of movement and is relatively cheap.”
I nodded and bought the items and equipped them. It felt a little weird, the weight of them on my body. I still couldn’t believe the feedback I was actually getting from a virtual world. As soon as I was done I looked at Padraig who was nodding.
“Looking good. So I believe I promised to show you the ropes.” He smiled at me, which caused me to a feel a little uncomfortable. It felt so weird to have someone being nice for me and not having pity in their eyes.
“You did,” I said simply. I didn’t really know what else to say.
“Alright then, let’s stick to the plains for now. Keep to the mobs in your level zone.” I nodded and followed him out of the town. “So first things first you have to be confident in your weapon.” He held out his hand and a spear appeared in it. “If you aren’t then it can be difficult to actually use it.”
He turned to me. “That being said form is also important. If you don’t know how to use your weapon, then you can’t win anything.” He nodded at my sword. “While you did damage the boar, you didn’t have a chance at killing it just by flailing your sword at it.”
I nodded solemnly. He had a good point. Even if I was comfortable with the sword, I still had no clue how to use it. He gestured at the little slime blobs in the grass.
“Try and kill those only using the tip of your sword.”
“The tip?”
“Yes. When you use the tip you do piercing damage, whereas when you use the side of the blade you do slashing.”
I nodded and drew my sword. I breathed deeply. While I had taken out small mobs before I had been pretty absentminded about it. Now I had to concentrate. I approached the slime and stabbed at it, and watched as it jumped away, quivering a few feet from where it had been.
“Don’t just poke at it! You have to move fast, otherwise you are just telegraphing what you are doing.”
I gritted my teeth and moved towards the quivering slime. I thrust at it again and hit it, only to have it divide into two. They began to move towards me. I backed away, but they kept coming. Fear was mounting.
“Hit them again!”
I steeled myself and stabbed one of the two slimes. It burst into shards, but before I could get the other one it jumped on me. I let out an involuntary squeak as I expected it to hurt. However, it just bounced off. The slime shattered at Padraig’s spear went through it.
“Not bad. I see your armor works well.” He grinned. “Sorry if it made you nervous. Slimes are the weakest mobs around here, but they annoyingly take a lot of effort to kill right now.”
“You could have warned me that it splits when you hit it!”
“Yeah, I suppose I could have,” he said a little sheepishly. “But anyway, you did great!” He grinned at me, and I felt myself begin to smile a little in return.
“Thanks. What’s next?”
He raised an eyebrow. “We kill more slimes. Just because you managed to kill one doesn’t mean you’re an expert.”
I blushed, embarrassed. He was right. So, we began ‘farming’. He showed me many methods of fighting. As the day went on, I got better and better at handling my sword. I was gaining confidence and was beginning to actually feel something more than the dull ache that had been dominate.
After what felt like a few minutes Padraig called for us to stop for a moment. “So, I think you’re ready to take on the boar again.” He smiled. “I think that’d be the best way to end today.”
I nodded while taking deep breaths. This time I would be ready. I gripped my sword tightly before sheathing it. I didn’t think I was ready, but at least someone else would be there to prevent me from dying. I watched as he put away his spear. He turned to me and gave me a thumbs up.
“We’ll practice on the little pigs on the way,” he said. “That should help boost our confidence.” He grinned and gestured at me to follow.
As we entered the forest the small pigs began to appear. Padraig gestured at me. “Alright, so the plan. You have a close combat weapon. I have a longer ranged one. So, I’ll get the thing’s attention. Then you sneak up behind it and attack.”
“Won’t it then turn on me?”
“So long as I have dealt him the most damage, he’ll focus on me rather than you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s called aggro. He’ll be more focused on me because I’ll be perceived as the bigger threat. As long as you just chip away it won’t notice you.”
I nodded, it made sense. He pulled out his spear and motioned towards the pig. It was time to put his plan into action. I gave a wide slow berth to the pig, letting Padraig approach it from the front. I watched as he stepped forward and thrust his spear at it, connecting with its side, leaving a large gash.
The pig squealed in anger and began pawing at the dirt. “NOW.” At his yell I jumped forward and swung my sword, feeling the power I had felt when I fought the boar. My sword passed clean through the pig, shattering it into shards. I stumbled slightly, having expected slightly more resistance to my swing but managed not to fall over.
“That was great!” he called out with a giant grin on his face. “You got it!” He spun his spear around and put it away. He was about to say something else when something caused him to pause. “I know I promised to show you some stuff but I’m being called away.” He looked a bit down. “Let’s meet up again tomorrow! If that’s alright with you of course.”
I would nod and then jump internally with surprise as a new screen popped up in front of me. It was a friend request. He looked expectantly as I looked at it before I pressed accept. “Well I’ll see you later! Have a good night and don’t stay up to late!” With that he swiped and disappeared, logging off for the night, and once again I was alone.