The smell of rabbit meat wafted in the air, followed by the smell of smoke and a few herbs.

He dug in ravenously, grimacing at the taste. It was chewy, slightly burnt, and a little oversalted. He gulped down some water quickly and ate the rest.

Once finished, he took a look at the remaining wabbit meat. It didn't seem to look any different, but just in case, he decided to try and preserve it a little better. He cut into the meat, grunting with the effort. It seemed like the tendons in the meat had hardened a little more, meaning that the bag wasn't a perfect refridgerator.

Wabbit Jerky: Grade 3. Wabbit meat cut into strips and salted to make jerky. Rabbit flavored.

Rummaging inside his bag, he grabbed each raw material he has, a vial full of mana powder which he carefully took out, and several glass containers that he could reuse.

He laid each material on the ground. There were 5 mana stones, 4 shockshrooms, 5 nettles, along with some new materials: 5 azel ferns, 3 kokore cones, and 4 badara leaves. There wasn't any Heartgrass left since he used it all up the last time he made potions.

Examining each material closely, he noted their physical details mentally.

The azel ferns had a tint of light blue, almost as if it was painted on. The kokore cones looked like red pinecones and there were little pink nuts in the gaps within the cone. The badara leaves were long and thin, with sharp and prickly edges.

Taking his knife, he started with the cones, using it like a shovel to dig out the nuts. Each cone gave between 4-6 nuts. A few of them crumbled, revealing a white interior. Upon closer look, they seemed like almonds, but with a rosier color.

He put one in his mouth, breaking it apart easily.

Tastes...burnt, almost.

You have taken 1 Fire Damage.

Knew it. He pinched his tongue between his fingers and tried to rub off the remnants of the nut, to no avail.

"Mebbe I ken use it to mek sum kind of "urnin" poshun or sumthin," he muttered, his tongue still throbbing.

Actually, that wouldn't work, would it?

He took another one of the nuts and licked it.

Looks like it's closer to a spicy pepper than some kind of nut.

He held it up to eye-level, looking at it in the light.

I'm going to regret this later.

He took a deep breath, before breaking it in half, touching the white interior, and then rubbing his eyes. His fingers jerked back like he's just burned himself on a stovetop and fresh tears sprang to his eyes.

You have taken 1 Fire Damage. You have been Blinded!

"Fuck, my eyes!" Ugh, where's the damn water? He blinked a couple of times, looking at his reflection before a slightly blurry, brown-haired youth stares back at him. He washed his face some more until his image was clearer and his eyes were swollen.

Learned Blind Resistance(C) Lvl 1 Blind Resistance(C) Lvl 1: Lowers effects of blindness with level

"Nice, now, back to thinking..."

So how do I use this? It's not like I can bash someone over the head with a potion since they'd obviously try to defend themselves...No wait, I could, right? But it would take too much time, and judging from the effects, it barely does much of anything.

...Should I pick up archery?

No, arrows are consumables, and they take up space as well, which is something I don't need more of.

What if I rubbed my gloves in this crap or threw knives or something? Just as long as I use something that is reusable, it should work out.

Maybe I can make hot sauce or something with it later to spread on my gloves. Whatever, I'll think about it later.

He picked up a fern next, biting off a little piece from the tip and placing it in his mouth.

Tastes minty, kinda like ice or gum. The burning taste in his mouth dissipated completely, a cold feeling spreading through his mouth.

Restored 1 HP

Oh, these heal you? Great, I can use these if I run out of potions!

Wait, what if I combined these with the Heartgrass? Or made them into potions by themselves? Would I get a different kind of potion?

He ripped up two more of the ferns and ground them down into a green paste, before taking some time to boil water and make a potion. The liquid turned dark blue at first, before changing to a bluish-green color.

Azel Health Potion(C): Restores 25% HP. Tastes like mint. Grade 5.

Holy shit, 25%? Damn, this is great!

Why is it called an Azel potion though, cuz like the heartgrass is called "Low Quality" instead of "Heartgrass"? I mean, not like it really matters, but still...

Up next were the badara leaves.

These just look like weeds. Why did I pick these up again?

He picked one up and hurt himself almost immediately. Making sure to not touch the spikes a second time, he tested the material in his fingers. It's pretty flexible, but can only be torn the long way. There were also only spikes on one side, while the other side was soft and smooth.

So, what the fuck do I do with this? Maybe try making some kind of rope out of this?

He ripped one up into little strips, then tried twisting them together. It did not work out very well.

Badara Leaf

Well, that didn't work. I'll figure it out later.

Though, might as well try making a potion...

He takes out his dismantling knife and attempts to saw the bundle of leaves into pieces.

Durability has dropped by 1.

"Oh shit. Okay, don't do that."

Suddenly, an idea occurs to him. He took apart the pile of leaves, then took his knuckles and weaved the strips through them. He tested out a few punches, but it doesn't feel any different.

Badara Wooden Knuckles(C): +4 ATK, +1 DEF. A pair of wooden knuckles with badara leaves attached to them. Has a 5% chance to cause the target to bleed.

Is there a change? I think the ATK went up by 1, but what's this bleed thing? DIdn't the things I killed before bleed as well?

I'll test it out tomorrow. He cleaned it all up, stuffing it all into his bag before heading off to the inn.

Darius took off the headset, breathing in and out. He stood up and stretched, listening to his bones cracking and popping.

He walked into the hallway, looking into his brother's room. Gavin sat comfortably on his bed, focused on his phone while the headset rested on the table. Darius knocked on the door.

Gavin put his phone aside for a moment and waved. "Hm? Oh, hey, little bro. How's it going?"

"Uh, what? Is something wrong with you or something?"

"Was it that obvious? Hahaha..." he laughed sheepishly.

"You've never called me "little bro" ever, and who the hell waves to a person a few feet away from them? Also," he wrinkled his nose, "what did you do? It smells like you burnt something."

"I got kinda hungry, so I tried making some food...it didn't go the way I wanted to though," he said, scratching his head.

"Didn't you learn how to cook in school?"

"Well, yeah, but like, the stuff they teach you in school is stuff like how to make easy crap, like a sandwich or something."

"Then just make a sandwich. It's not that damn hard."

"Speaking of sandwiches, you wouldn't mind making me one, would ya?"

Darius stared at him. "Seriously?"

"Grrrrr..." Gavin's stomach growled in response. "Yep."

"Ugh, fine." Gavin got up, massaging his back, and they head to the kitchen. "By the way, what were you trying to make?" Darius asked.

"Ramen."

"...How do you fuck up ramen?"

"I put water in and left it alone for 3 minutes, but it ended up burning somehow."

"Did you remember to boil the water first?"

"Of course I did! I'm not that stupid."

"Separately?"

The silence told him all he needed to know.

"...Shut up, everyone's done that before, right?"

"Hell no."

"...."

Daru opened up the fridge, grabbing some bread, cheese, and turkey. He quickly assembled two sandwiches, handing one to his brother.

"Eat this. I'm too lazy right now to cook anything so this is the best you'll be getting."

"Thanks, little bro!" Gavin tore ravenously into the sandwich, taking a large bite.

"Don't call me that. It sounds so cringy."

"Sorry, little bro."

"I said don't call me that!"

"Call you what, little bro."

"Ughhhh, shut up!" He shook his head, changing the topic. "Anyway, you said you'd meet me in-game, but I never saw you."

"Mmph?" Gavin swallowed. "Oh yeah, that thing. Yeah, I had to use the bathroom, sorry."

"Hmph. Well then, could ya give me an actual place to meet up next time? I walked all over town looking for you, and even got into a fight!"

"Ohh, so that was you!"

"What do ya mean?"

Gavin pulled out his phone, opening up an app, and typing in the search bar.

"Let's see," he said, scrolling down, "See?" He tapped on a video, which showed two figures fighting inside a glass dome.

"Wait, people were filming that? What the hell? No wait, you can take videos of people ingame?" Sure enough, one of the figures looked just like him, along with his weapons and armor.

"You know people do live streams of this game, right?"

"Yeah, but what does that- oh, never mind, I'm stupid. Well, at least no one saw it, right?"

"It's on trending right now."

"Fuck," he sighed. "Welp, I can't do anything about it now."

"Hey, at least you aren't getting shamed online," Gavin laughed, pointing to the comments. "That warrior's probably gonna quit the game soon. Honestly, I can't believe that you won. Even if you play as one of those fakers, it shouldn't be that easy to take out a regular player." He poured himself a glass of water, chugging it down.

"What do ya mean, fake? It's not like we can play "normally" since we aren't even given any magic spells or anything. And in case ya didn't notice, I don't feel like being a meatshield," he said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"God, that tastes so much better than that rabbit shit."

They ate in silence, a slight tension between them, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"...So, since you forgot about our ingame...thing, wanna talk about it now?" Darius broke the silence, licking his fingers.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure, let's talk about it now. Okay, so uh, how far have you gotten?"

"What do ya mean, "how far"? It's not like there's some kind of progress bar or something."

"No, I mean, like..." Gavin waved his hands,"-what have you done so far? Like how many quests have you done, have you fought anything yet, did you find any secrets, and so on." He clicked his tongue. "Actually, first off, what's your level?"

"I'm level 2, and I haven't really been doing quests because I've been doing other shit. I've fought the dude in that video, along with a few kinds of monsters. And I guess the library counts as a secret if you count being in plain sight a secret."

"Wait, you were actually serious about the library?"

"Did you seriously think I would lie about that kind of shit? I got, like, better potions, and- and a friggen SR skill cuz I went there."

"Was there anything you had to do to get in or something?"

"It's free, but you do need some things to actually be able to read anything. You're gonna have to get a skill called Comprehension which automatically translates words so that you can read them."

"That's nice, but, is there anything that's useful for, you know, non crafters?"

"I don't know, you'd have to ask the librarian. She's kinda crazy though, so watch out for that."

"Hmmm... I'll check it out if I have time. Anyway, is that all or is there something else that you've found?"

"I don't really think there's anything that's new to you, cuz you're online like all the time, right? I mean, it's not like you've got school anymore, right?"

"Nah, online classes start in like a week, so I gotta use my time wisely, ya know?"

"Well in that case, what have you done ingame so far?" The second he said that, Gavin began typing on his phone once more.

He pulled up another video and showed Darius. "This."

The video began with some guy promoting Legacy with an ad. After that, the scene changed to a forest with the same person, dressed in the beginner gear, along with 5 other players. The camera showed him in third-person, giving a clear angle as a pack of goblins appeared.

"Is this supposed to be like a tutorial? But I don't see you..." He squinted, trying to pick out the faces within the group.

"I'm the one filming it. A few of my friends from high school were playing the game and asked me to be the camera guy."

"Wait, I didn't know you were into photography-"

"Well, what did you think we were doing every time they came over? It's not like we have any video games or anything, you know."

Seeing the look on his brother's face, he continued quickly. "Anyway, we're getting off-topic here. So, basically, I did a couple of these videos- and we made some money too- and then one day, Jason- the guy in the front here-," he said, pointing in the video, "decides he wants to go deeper in, because "the viewers want more," right? And then for whatever reason, there's just this cave in the middle of the woods, which doesn't look like it leads to anything since there's like no mountains nearby or whatever. But Jason's like, oh that's interesting, let's go inside. Cuz like, what could go wrong?"

"So he goes in, and well, we leave him, cuz we ain't stupid. Well, I leave them, the rest of the guys go inside. They called me out for it, but guess what? A few seconds after I couldn't see them anymore, the cave snapped shut. Then a screen pops up saying that Jason died. And then, just like that, the rest of the party's dead as well."

He took a breath, clearing his throat.

"But this is where it starts to get weird. The cave begins to like, shake, and then it just, it got up and walked away. Like, for real. I got it all on camera, so I can-"

Darius stopped him, holding out a hand. "Okay, so basically you guys ran into some cave monster thing. Kind of weird, especially in a forest, but like, wouldn't it be obvious that it can move and stuff?"

"I'm getting there. So, being the weirdo I am, I wanted to see how strong it was. So I used Examine on it, and you know what popped up?"

"The name and level?"

"Yeah, but I thought there was a bug in the game for a second. It's called a Capper, but it was level one. And for reference, each of us is around Lvl 4 or 5, so something was wrong here."

He took another breath before continuing.

"And that's not all. We did some asking around online, but it turns out we're the only ones that saw that thing. A few people thought we were making it up, but after we showed the footage it blew up."

He scratched his head. "There's actually been a few streamers trying to find the Capper. One streamer actually found it, on their first day. They only caught a glimpse of it though, cuz they didn't know what it was but went inside like a dumbass and died in a few seconds," he finished.

"So yeah, that's basically what I've been, well, what I was doing. We haven't really been keeping in touch often since school shut down, because of what happened and stuff."

"...Alright, then what are you doing now?"

"I've just been enjoying the game, I guess. I've been doing quests, grinding, exploring, that kind of thing. There's so many things you can do, ya know. They put so much effort into this game, like it's so realistic and stuff. Like, have you seen the sunsets in this game? Just... absolutely incredible."

"I've actually been doing some digging, and apparently there's a spot on the roof of the guild which was originally built for scouting, but it gives a great view of the town. I really want to find a way up there," he said wistfully.

"If you like sunsets so much, just go outside," Darius replied.

"I have been," Gavin responded. "Whenever I go running I bring my phone with me so I can take pictures. The camera isn't the best, of course," he said, opening up the camera roll, "but with a little editing, it gets about as good as a real camera."

On the screen were various pictures, many of wildlife, clouds, still water, and several sunsets.

"Oh, so you've been going to that trail nearby? The one over there, right?" Darius pointed outside the window, to the right of their house.

They lived in the suburbs, near a number of nature trails. Sometimes, on the way to other areas, they would have to walk through one of these trails. A few years ago, when there was time, they'd explore these trails, catching leaves that fell from the trees, and shouting whenever a stray deer or squirrel skittered by.

It was pretty close to winter, now. Soon enough, the world would be covered in snow and there'd be fewer animals around.

"Yeah, the trail over there still has birds and other stuff. I saw a snapping turtle the other day."

"Oh, cool! How big was it?"

"Pretty big. Almost looked like someone was feeding it too since I don't think there are really any fish that swim in that river."

"Anyway, it's almost time for me to go exercise. Wanna come?"

"Mmm...I have to do my homework..."

"I'll help you with your English or whatever it is later. C'mon, let's go." Gavin grabbed his jacket and opened the door, letting the cool air flow in. "It's supposed to be in the 50s today. Grab your jacket and let's go. Oh, and bring your phone too."