After gathering all their loot, the trio set off once more.
"Should we head back to Canopy City? Maybe we can go to some other territories around here."
Jasmine mused as they walked through the forest.
"Are there any territories to the north? We're heading northward anyway."
Ian asked from the side.
"Nah man, there are no territories to the north of Canopy City for a while. The mountains around the dungeon are the border with the Iron Peaks, a dwarven coalition. Other than that there are no cities around, only small villages."
Ty explained their surroundings in a bit more detail as they walked. Arrow flew in the dark sky above them. They would have to take a break soon. No point in moving at night, especially with the high risk of attacks.
"Let's take a minute and decide what to do before we get ambushed."
Ian pointed to a small but big enough cave to rest in. The three of them moved toward the hillside, approaching the cave. From inside a spider sprung out. Arrow quickly swept down and killed the weak spider.
"Looks like he's a bit mad he couldn't help in the last battle."
Jasmine commented, seeing Arrow's eagerness for combat.
"Yeah looks like he's excited"
Ian agreed, looking on as Arrow rampaged through the small cave clearing it of spiders.
The trio sat back as Arrow dealt with the weak spiders. He struggled a but towards the end, the exhaustion getting to him, but the burd finished the job.
After five minutes of waiting the cave was completely safe. Ian and company went into the cave and sat against the walls. Arrow was consumed in eating all the prey he hunted, seemingly in euphoria.
"So should we just head back to Canopy City then? There's no point in going to some small village around here. We won't be able to sell all the loot we got."
Ian turned to Jasmine.
"Yeah you're right Ian. After sunrise let's start heading back. Until then we can just rest here, we can take turns watching out for any monsters around."
"Sounds like a plan! Let's eat too, I'm starving!"
Ty was already drooling as Jasmine started a fire just outside the cave. Ian got some of the dire wolf meat they had looted and began cooking it.
"Smells great man! I'm looking forward to eating this."
Arrow, smelling the meat, also came up. The bird had a look of longing in its eyes, staring at the wolf meat.
Ian pulled an extra bit of meat from his pack.
"Here buddy, take it if you're hungry."
He threw the piece on the ground at the bird's delight.
Like that time went by, the trio enjoyed their meal and fought the occasional monster. They were pretty strong but nothing they couldn't handle. Especially with Tyson around.
After dinner Ian sat against the rocky wall of the cave. He was looking at his status. After the battle with the [Wolf King] his level had gone up from 14 to 29. Not only that but he had gotten a title.
"15 levels... That's insane. We did kill a silver level monster though. The exp bonus from it being such high level must've been huge. A tiltle too! Lucky!"
After applying all his stat points his status looked like this.
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Status-
[Ian Nightgale]
Class- Ranger
Titles- [Ambitious Hunter]
Lv.29
Skills- [Hawk Eyes] [Intermideate Marksmanship] [Skinning] [Animal Friendship] [Arrow Charge] [Weakness Detection]
Stats-
DEX-35
STR-28
VIT-25
INT-28
CHA-16
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The title [Ambitious Hunter] had great effects too! It boosted his stats when facing an enemy more than two sub-realms stronger than him.
"This just keeps getting better!"
Ian noticed that he had a skill point to spend after shooting through level 20. His stamina had gotten much better so he could definitely upgrade [Hawk Eyes] now. Ian was almost giddy with excitement.
Jasmine looked over at him and laughed a little.
"Good upgrades huh? How many levels did you get from the boss fight?"
"Fifteen, isn't that nuts!?"
"Damn! I was wondering how many you'd get since I got eight but fifteen is nuts!"
"The boosts for level gaps must be high. If we keep going at this pace we'll be silver level in no time!"
Ian smiled, his eyes almost had stars in them the way they glistened. He was having the time of his life.
"Yeah! After that, it's dungeon time. That volcano is just calling my name!"
Ty came into the cave after finishing a ginormous meal. He held a claw in his fingers, using it like a toothpick.
"Let's do it! That dungeon is getting cleared!"
Jasmine stuck out her fist. Ian and Ty quickly joined her in a fist bump. She smiled and spoke again.
"This is gonna be so much fun!"
The night came to a close after that, they slept in the game since they were in the wild. Logging out could put their characters in danger. Dying did come with a slight penalty, every death was a minus 1 to all your stats.
Not the worst punishment, but when a player takes death lightly it can be severe. The more you die, the weaker you get. The weaker you get, the more you die.
It's better to just avoid death from the start and remain cautious rather than falling into that cycle. Though death can be unavoidable in some cases.
As the sun rose Ian, who was on watch duty, looked out to the plains. In the distance you could see groups of dire wolves hunting the grazing animals. A tall mountain range loomed in the distance, one with a smoking top.
He looked back to his friends. A tall orc lay spread out on the floor, snoring loudly. On the opposite side a beautiful elven girl dat against a wall.
"Let's go guys. It's daytime."
At his words the two people began to stir in their sleep. Not long after that the trio was on its way to back Canopy City.
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Chapter 14!
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