n

n

n

"Ah. It's over.

"

nLvl 9?

nKrow didn't even draw his gun, knowing it was useless.

nHe'd just gained Lvl 3, and won't get a battleclass skill for another seven levels. He had four bullets and two crude knives.

nHe couldn't even taunt the monster with the Tattered Golden Silky Fur of its dead pack members because he wouldn't be able to survive the charge.

nKrow paused at that thought.

nToo cruel, he admonished himself. The armored beast and its pack hadn't done anything to him after all.

nIt was Krow who had trespassed, in that regard.

nSo he turned from the approaching beast and its much diminished entourage, jogged away.

nKchreee! Chk-keee!

nKrow paused, as if to listen to the chittering. He brought up his profile. Twelve points of dexterity?

nAnd then he flung himself off the walkway.

nThe land silenced.

nIt was only now, when Krow could only hear wind in his ears, that he realized the Gardens were full of sound – insects uncountable, birds that chirped and fluttered their wings, the flowers themselves hummed with life.

nWhat part did the mothmarmots play in the Gardens, that the sounds of everything else didn't stop when they appeared?

nAlmost instinctive, a hand reached out to catch a trailing vine, and Krow's body slammed into the wind as he swung.

n

"Gyaaaaaahaah!

"

nThe landscape rushed past dizzily.

nSomething clicked in his brain, and Krow released the vine at a particular point in the arc. He flailed his arms to keep upright, feet coming up in front. He skidded onto the pathway, legs bending to take on most of the impact.

nEven then, his feet slipped against dust and gravel, knees slammed into the ground, palms almost bruised from road rash.

nThere was a short stillness, as dust settled.

nThen Krow popped up with an exhilarated laugh.

nHis status told him he had Negligible Wound(s). A small debuff, considering he'd never done that move before.

nBut this was a game, and his body was data. He just needed to let the 'instincts' take over.

n

"Twelve points of Dexterity!

" He gleefully cheered. Then he grinned widely at the Armored Mothmarmot on the walkway above, ignoring the angry eyes and confused chitter-roaring.

"Twelve points of Dexterity, that's what just happened!

"

nTwelve points of Dexterity.

nEnough to activate the first skill of the Acrobat subclass, Rope Trickster.

nEli had watched tightrope stunts and rope-dancing on vid before. Even at Krow's third apprentice level, swinging from a vine without slipping was simple, though it was about the most he could do.

nHe brushed himself off and rapidly walked away. It would take at least three minutes for the remaining members of the monster pack to reach where he was.

nHe had to get away from the armored mothmarmot's aggro zone, and stay away for one hundred seconds before the pack could lose his 'scent' and start calming down from the battle. To lose a monster concentrating aggro on a player, that meant: run away very far very quickly.

nSkreeeaaaaooar! Ch-kreeaAAOR!

nKrow glanced back.

nWasn't he out of the aggro zone already? In most monsters smaller than an eighteen-wheeler, it was a twelve-meter radius.

nThe armored beast jumped.

nWhat.

nKrow could only stare, dumbfounded.

nLarge butterfly wings unfurled from the back of the armored mothmarmot. Gouts of gold dust rained thickly from the spreading wings. A full seven to ten meters in span.

nKrow choked on nothing in shock, coughed, leaned against the rocky crag to thump his lungs into working again.

nFlying creatures had a larger aggro zone, nearly five times that of ground-based monsters of similar size.

n

"Norge!

" Krow yelled the name as a curse, peeved to the extreme.

"Did you program your monsters with twelve points of Impossible?!

"

nKrow could run, but the path led straight for Gremut.

nEven thirty meters along the route he was on, the monster would scent the village.

nThe full sixty meters and the flutterpoison dust would affect the villagers whether they wanted to or not.

nHe opened his Profile, distributed four points to VIT and one to DEX. With 12 points to VIT, he'd reached a threshold and his body became slightly tougher. Unfortunately, he didn't gain any class skills with it.

nEach point to MND made his bullets stronger by a percentage, but the increase was insignificant at his level.

nThe he turned away from the village path and started clambering up the steep slope.

nAbove him were sheer cliffs, but climbing got him away from the veritable waterfall of poison dust from the impossibly gliding giant ratbug. There was more than one pathway on the slope, due to the layers of vine walkways.

nMost of them led to Gremut.

nSkreeeeaaaor!

nHe glanced behind him, drew his revolver. He shouldn't have left the Gardens – there, those wings wouldn't have had room to spread. But here, in the space between the Gardens and the wall of the gorge, there was enough room to glide.

nThe massive bugrat even had the nerve to look graceful while doing it.

nKrow cycled the cylinder to a stun-round, snapped two shots at the eye of the beast. Even if the stun wouldn't work, the projectiles only dispersed upon touching the enemy and it would at least sting.

nSure enough, the monster roared in pain, the fluttering wings jerked in their flowing dance. The monster drew its wings in, and its whole bulk swerved unsteadily from the expected trajectory.

nWeeping graves.

nKrow holstered the gun and pulled himself up the gorge wall faster.

nHe'd barely flung himself behind a jutting crag when the armored mothmarmot crashed, the impact site exploding into a cloud of poison dust, rocks and actual dust.

nHe huddled into the hooded cape as the poison dust spread, as the impact triggered a dozen small rockfalls

n

"Buy a mask, too,

" he noted to himself, as the hood kept the pebbles off him, but not the tiny choking particles of soil.

nStrawmanScare had worn a mask for the majority of his life.

nIt came in handy many times against airborne dangers, like paralyzing plant spores, the emanations from leatherworker solutions, steaming acid pools, or the various strong unpleasant smells he had to deal with over the years.

nThat was a thought for another time though, as the monster below was already picking itself up.

nChk-skreeeaar!

nThere was a kink in one of its wings, but its reddening eyes were set mercilessly on Krow.

nDread curdled in his gut.

n

"You want it to follow you.

" He swallowed reflexively, as the plan firmed in his mind.

"Don't mind the absolute murder-death-kill eyes it's giving you. Those totally don't matter at all.

"

nHe waved, as if greeting a friend.

nThe other chk-roared its protest at the notion and started digging claws into the side of the gorge, slowly climbing with vengeance dripping out of every crack its claws dug into stone.

nKrow started to move, not up, but sideways. He boosted himself onto an upper pathway and jogged along it, eyes sharp and roving, keeping track of the landscape.

nHe glanced back and grimaced. The armored monster was still emitting puffs of poison dust, clawing up the slope toward him.

nIt wasn't raging yet, but from how those wings looked slightly less vivid and more milk-colored, it was getting there.

nHe moved faster.

nHe couldn't use the flameburst-rock-crystal explosion strategy here.

nFor one, this side of the gorge seemed to have a dearth of rock crystals. Second, he didn't know if the rock shards could penetrate the armor. He only had one flameburst left, and he wasn't about to leave his life to chance like that.

nKrow huffed ruefully to himself.

nHe'd really been out of his mind, to take on a hidden quest without proper preparation.

nHe'd failed it before. He should know how difficult it was.

nToo eager and too overconfident.

nHe should have waited to do the hidden quest. He should have known he hadn't had enough bullets. He should have at least stocked up on food.

nShould have, he snorted.

n'Don't think in should haves', said Craftmaster Ortholian, 'think, what should be done better next time?'

nKrow had never been sure if the craftmaster had been a native or a former player. He didn't wear the globe icon that most of the transmigrators had adopted as their symbol. But he didn't act as most of the Zushkenari natives did either.

nWhat should be done better next time?

nMany things, Krow admitted with much irritation at himself.

nHe hadn't even changed his starting gear slippers for boots!

nThe durability was already fading on the slippers because he could feel the stones under his feet now. Not helped by how he'd landed feet-first on that vine swing.

n

"Just get to Lvl 5,

" he told himself.

"Lvl 5 and then immediately leave Gremut to somewhere with better gear.

"

nStarting villages didn't sell good armor or weapons. They didn't even have an auction house. Only large towns and cities had those.

nOf course, he needed to get away from the Lvl 9 monster intent on ripping him to shreds first.

nHe stopped as he saw a rock pillar formation as he rounded a corner – thrice taller than him, suitably heavy, and more importantly it tapered a bit toward the ground and looked very crumbly and unstable.

nIt wasn't precisely the plan, but plans change….

n

"Perfect.

"

nAt least, it had a decent chance of working.

nHe ran to the pillar, started climbing up the stone formation gingerly.

nThe fact that it was crumbling gave a lot of handholds, which aided his ascent. The fact that it was unstable made it shudder with every move he exerted on it, which did not aid his nerves.

nThe armored monster rounded the corner, bounding energetically even with a wing uselessly trailing the ground. Its gaze caught him.

nChkreeeeeaaar!

n

"Shkav,

" he cursed, and carefully moved faster. The rock formation trembled and swayed. He paused, eyes wide.

nChkskreeeeeaoor!

nKrow set his teeth and ignored the swaying. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down!

nHe gained the semi-flat top of the pillar with a sigh of relief, then grabbed a trailing vine hanging from a walkway above. He glanced down, stepped to the side opposite the armored mothmarmot, inclined himself nearly horizontal, soles of his feet against the edge of the pillar, with the vine supporting his weight.

nHe bent his knees. Then with all the force he could, pushed off.

nThe pillar swayed in the opposite direction as he swung away. He reached the top of the swing arc, and bore down with all his weight as gravity pulled him back down.

nUsing the momentum of the return swing, he slammed into the pillar.

nHe bounced off deliberately to save himself the pain, but the shock of the collision still resonated in his bones.

nThe pillar leaned over. But it wasn't enough to fall.

nThe armored monster scrabbled at the slope, intent on getting to Krow and ignoring everything else.

nHe adjusted and pushed off again, with greater force, cursing. Even if his debuff said Negligible Wound(s), the scratches on his knees and palms still stung. Even now, he felt his grip on the vine slipping.

nChkreeeeaaaor!

nHe slammed into the pillar again. It tipped over. He huffed in relief. The pillar bumped one edge against the slope as it wavered in its descent; he nearly slipped off. Tightening his grip on his makeshift rope, he braced.

nChkreeeeaaaor! Chk-kreeeeeooor!

nThe armored mothmarmot, just a single leap from where Krow was hanging, could not avoid the pillar's falling weight.

nChkeeee! Chk-kr—

nKrow braced his feet on the stone, letting the length of the vine run out between his loose grip as he descended with the pillar.

nPillar, mothmarmot, and Krow crashed onto the path. His feet slid from under him. He turned it into a roll, dropped onto a path on the mountainside below.

nThis time, Krow couldn't avoid the flutterpoison dust mixed with stone shards and soil debris. He ducked beneath a ledge and covered his mouth and nose as best he could.

nDefinitely need a mask.

nHe could see the vine web of the Gardens tremble as large rocks fell onto the vine walkways below them.

n'That would surely endear you to Gremut,' a part of him snarked critically, 'destroying a beloved site that had obviously been the work of generations.'

nSay goodbye to those Reputation Points, Krow.

nThe rockslide tapered off, and he cautiously peered out of his hood.

nA series of cracking sounds, breaking stone, shot through the quiet, and more rocks tumbled down.

nKrow eeled further under the ledge. Some of the rocks fell against the ledge, protecting Krow from the rest of the landslide.

nChk-kreeeaAAAOOOR!

nHe stilled.

nIt was still alive.

nAnd in a Rage.

n

"Weeping graves,

" he breathed feelingly into the dust under him. He pushed against the rocks that half-trapped him under the ledge.

nSkreeeeaoor!

nSomething large thumped near where he was near-punching rocks out of his way. Shkav!

nHe wriggled out frantically and sat up, revolver already in hand, already aiming.

nThey looked at each other, so close that Krow could almost feel the monster's breath.

nHe cycled the revolver cylinder to the last flameburst bullet, one of the two bullets he had left in the gun.

nThe monster was bleeding badly, only a sliver remaining in its HP. But its wings were fully crystal, in a familiar Rage, and its HP was slowly replenishing.

nKrow himself had not wanted to think about the 43% he had left, indelible at the corner of his eye.

nA screeching roar and the monster was on him. Krow's hand didn't waver as he waited until he couldn't miss. He triggered the flameburst; the bullet flew true into a blood-red eye.

nThe vulnerable area exploded.

nKrow ignored the roaring, forced himself up and equipped a stone knife, used all the force of a lunge to slide the blade into the monster's eye-socket and deep into its brain.

nThere was a long, helpless moment where he thought he hadn't succeeded.

nThen the large mothmarmot sagged.

nThe stone knife snapped, leaving him only holding the tang.

nYou've gained two (2) pouches of Flutterpoison Dust from a monster!

nYou've gained one (1) set of Crystalwing Bones from a monster!

nYou've butchered a monster to acquire its Golden Silky Fur!

nYou've gained ten (10) serpens from a monster!

nYou have finished a Hidden bonus objective: Vanquish an Armored Mothmarmot!

nKrow stumbled back, breathing hard.

nThe monster carcass dispersed into a mass of glowing sparks, lifting up to the skies.

nHe watched until the last glowing mote was gone.

nGodforsaken hidden objectives.

"It wasn't hidden at all!

"

nAnd bonus? Bonus meant 'optional', right?!

nThe monster confronted him, then pursued him when he walked away! It had basically forced them into confrontation! How was that 'hidden' or 'bonus'?

n

"Take your not-really-optional objectives and shove them, Norge!

" he muttered.

nSometimes, Krow felt that if any gods existed, they were laughing at him.

nHe stretched slowly. His body felt heavy, indicating debuffs.

nThe intricate web of the Gardens, at least, remained mostly untouched.

nPoisoned, Exhausted, and Wounded, he started walking to where he could get food and treatment.

nChk-kreeee!

n

"Are you joking, world?

" Krow aimed the revolver, glaring at the single monster blocking his way.

nMothmarmot Lvl 3

n

"I only have one bullet left in this gun. Do you want to try your luck?

"

nUnsurprisingly at this point, it did.

nLess than ten minutes later, he was ignoring the looks sent at his dusty and torn attire as he all but limped through the town.

nHe squinted at an Apothecary sign on the shop.

n

"Boy, did you tangle with a herd of wild stone-swine?

" chuckled the proprietor as he entered and slumped against the counter.

nKrow grunted. There were stone-swine this high up? Tenacious little things.

"Ten vials each of General Antidote, Low Revitalit, and Low Heal.

"

n

"Look like you need it.

" The man started packing the vials into a chest.

"General Antidote at ten serpens each, Low Revitalit at twenty, Low Heal at twenty-five. Five drax, fifty serpens total.

"

nWhoa. Cheap.

nOh right, this was a starting village. Prices were at least 30% cheaper when under Lvl 5.

n

"Twenty-five hundred-item crates of each, in addition.

" He'd have liked to buy more, but Inventory slots were finite.

nThe man's brow lifted, but he only said,

"You'll have to return tomorrow for the crates. Five thousand and five hundred drax. Half the price now, half tomorrow.

"

nHe closed the chest and thoughtfully left out one vial of each potion for Krow, who guzzled them all down without hesitation.

n

"You don't have Fool's Antidote, High Revival or High Heal, do you?

" Krow asked, placing pouches of coin on the counter.

n

"I look like I could sell that amount here?

" The man laughed, incredulous.

"You could order a similar amount from the city if you want to pay the delivery prices. It would take three days.

"

n

"No thanks.

" Krow figured it was something like that. All the top-quality items were designed to be player-crafted, so the system couldn't just make them appear like it did the general NPC-shop items. And it couldn't discount the prices, either. Noted.

nHe should shop around to see what NPC shop items he could stock up on.

nKrow left the shop, paid for a week in a draculkar visiting-house, engaged the security locks, and went to sleep.

n*

nEli took off the neuro-virtual headgear, but didn't move for several minutes. Finally, he sat up on his bed, running a hand through his hair.

n

"That was slightly more intense than expected,

" he breathed.

nA glance at the clock said it wasn't even nine in the morning.

n