Second World

”To tell you the truth, itʼs not that I like to travel alone,” Sunset replied. ”Healer class is what I have always used when I played RPG games in the past. I have a gang who I used to play together. Unfortunately, after coming into this world, I canʼt find them. So I have been traveling by myself all this time.”

”Why not just make a new gang with new friends?” Bowler asked.

”Iʼm not exactly good at making friends…” Sunset replied.

”Well, no worry. You have me as a friend now,” John said as he clapped Sunsetʼs shoulder.

”Donʼt you mean ʼusʼ?” Bowler protested.

”We are all friends now, if you need anything, donʼt hesitate to ask,” Jeanny said to Sunset.

Sunset was touched by their friendliness, ”thatʼs very kind of you, thank you.”

”Well, that was a surprisingly simple reason,” The Man commented.

”Are you expecting a mystery backstory?” Bowler asked.

”Sorry to disappoint,” Sunset said.

”Donʼt mind him,” Bowler said to Sunset, and then back to The Man, ”Since you asked him, then how about we ask you then. Why did you pick the Warrior class?”

”Isnʼt it obvious? Because I am THE MAN!!!”

Jack shook his head with a laugh. He had finished his meal. He went away to take a walk by himself around the camp.

Roaming around the army camp at night, Jack found there was also an army supply station near where the Duke was. It provided a place for the soldiers to restock their recovery potions. Jack went over and asked if he could get some potions as well, the caretaker said he could but he would need to pay for them using coins.

So it was a mobile shop, Jack thought.

As he browsed through the wares in that supply station. A couple of potions caught his eyes.

Healing potion (Normal consumable)

Recover 500 HP instantly

cooldown: 3 minutes

Energy potion (Normal consumable)

Recover 300 MP/Stamina instantly

cooldown: 3 minutes

It was a higher grade recovery potion than the basic healing potion and basic energy potions. The amount of HP and MP or Stamina they increased was more than double compared to their lower-grade counterparts.

After seeing these potions, he thought of something and then he asked Peniel in his mind, ʼPeniel, is this healing potion considered the same types as the basic healing potion? If I drink this healing potion, will the cooldown time cause me to unable to drink the basic healing one?ʼ

”No, they are considered different. You can immediately drink the basic healing one after drinking this healing potion,” Peniel answered.

That meant he could recover an instant of 700 HP if he drank both potions simultaneously. That would be a huge help, for one with such high HP as him, a 200 HP replenishment from the basic healing potion was too minuscule.

He asked for the price of those potions. The caretaker told him one bottle cost 12 silver coins.

Itʼs expensive, it was more than ten times the basic ones, Jack thought. Peniel told him that if he bought the potions in the city, the cost should be slightly less. This price should be because it was a mobile shop where supply was limited.

Jack asked if that meant he could buy such potion from a cityʼs shop? Because he never saw these potions before in those shops. Peniel said there should soon be such potions available for purchase. Supply was probably not yet available before.

Jack thought about it, did she mean that the wares in the shop would scale following the playersʼ improvements? After some thought, he also realized that he had not yet seen weapons and armors above level 20 being sold. On the first time he visited the shop, most of the equipment was even only around level 10.

Wait a minute, why did this world seem to cater to the players? As the playersʼ level increased, so did the equipment and wareʼs availability in the shops. This aspect showed as if this was genuinely a game made for players, not the real world.

This was too complicated, he thought. This was not something that he could do anything about, so he stopped thinking about it. He told the caretaker that he would like to buy ten healing potions and ten energy potions. He gave the caretaker 2 gold and 40 silver coins for them.

Although he was rich, he was not going to spend too many coins for them. Not if he could buy them cheaper at the capital later. These ten bottles each were just in case of emergency.

He shared his findings with the others, who then went over to look at the potions as well. Some made purchases. Some did not, partially due to the price, another reason was because not many of them had an HP pool reaching 500 points, especially the non-warrior and non-knight classes.

Same as the first night, the second night went on without any suspense. There were many guards doing shifts watching the perimeter, so if something happened, they would be able to react. Still, Jack did not think there would be monsters brave enough to ambush this army camp.

Jack did not forget to practice the trial spell formation which was given by Janus. When the others first saw it, they asked what spell it was. To which Jack explained it was not. He told them about the league faction called Order of Magi, and this is the requirement to join. John stated that he would go there first thing when he was back in the capital.

The third and fourth days on the journey went on without a hitch. They left the territory of Violent Apes and met two types of new monsters called Poisonous Giant Bee and Giant Scorpion, both of which were also in Jackʼs list of hunting quests. He could now complete three out of the ten on his list.

The Poisonous Giant Bees were generally weak, but they could fly. Although not fast, it still made them hard to hit. While Giant Scorpion had sturdy scales all over them, typical of the insect type, which gave them excellent defense. Same as Violent Apes, their average levels were also level 30, with many Elite grades amongst them.

The two monsters could both perform poisonous attacks, which was the most problematic aspect of them. Luckily many of the soldiers also carried antidotes with them. The healer units also could cast Cure spell, which removed all negative effects on a target, including poison. Bowler also had access to this spell when he reached level 20.

The vanguard troopsʼ strategy worked superbly. Even if the two monstersʼ numbers were higher compared to the Violent Ape, the soldiers still outnumbered them. Many of the players leveled up on the journey. Jack himself increased a level for both his Warrior and Mage class, bringing them to level 22 and 21 respectively.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the right-wing vanguard troop noticed a series of gigantic beehives hanging over one side of a cliff. Jeanny reported this to the others, Jack and John went over to take a look. The Man and Bowler also trailed alongside them.

ʼIs that…?ʼ He asked Peniel in his mind.

”Yes, it is a monster settlement,” Penielʼs voice gave him the answer, affirming his guess. ”Apparently, it was one formed by the Poisonous Giant Bees. Looking at the size, this one seemed to be of the normal-sized one.”

Jack was ecstatic, he remembered the bountiful rewards that he had received from just a tiny-sized settlement. This one was two steps up, its rewards should be even more generous. With the help from the army, they should make short work on this settlement.

”There must be hundreds of monsters inside there, thousands perhaps. Great, letʼs head over and do battle!” The Man, as battle-crazed as ever, exclaimed.

”Are you crazy? We should avoid that!” Bowler expressed his disagreement.

”Spineless jerk,” The Man mocked.

”Jackass!” Bowler shot back.

”Lively duo, arenʼt they?” John commented from beside Jack.

Jack was about to tell them about the monster settlement, which he thought should jack up their interest in engaging this monster settlement. But before he could tell the others of his thought, Captain Salemʼs words doused his excitement.

”We should take a slight detour, circle around that monster settlement,” the captain said.

😉