To the Abyss with this forest! Trees everywhere, grasping roots, and stumps trying to trip him! Of course the Raile next to him was having no trouble moving with ease. The screams were getting louder so Dan was definitely getting closer but whether or not that was a good thing had yet to be decided.

As he rounded a large tree Dan decided it was a very bad thing. Surrounding a group of three was an onslaught of 8 foxes. Even as he watched one of the foxes get ahold of a group member and pull her to the ground. The other foxes jumped on the helpless target which allowed one of the group members to kill one of the beasts with glowing magical sword. Realizing he was just standing in place and doing nothing he sent out the Raile to help tank them as he began to summon his Glitterflit.

Seeing the large Rabbit barreling towards the group they steeled themselves for yet another enemy to fight, but the Raile simply jumped over one of them in order to pounce onto a fox. Making decidedly non-rabbit-like noises it began to tear into the fox quickly killing it. Though the rest of the foxes were not to be caught off guard and put off far more of a fight, causing the Raile to retreat while still tanking hits for the group.

Finally Dan finished his spell and a golden rabbit leaped out a portal. Without needing direction the incredibly agile beast jumped at a nearby player stabbing at them with the nub on its head. Instead of hurting him however, he found himself instantly rejuvenated and was back in the fight with an extra 20 health. It seemed there was a cooldown on the heal though, since the Glitterflit took about ten seconds before it bounced against the Raile to heal it.

Meanwhile Dan rushed the foxes from behind, catching the predators between him and the rest of the others.Taking advantage of the distraction a group member, with a massive slingshot, planted the base into the ground before heaving on the string and launching a large rock into the side of a wounded fox, killing it instantly.

With the tide of the battle finally turned it didn’t take too long for them to clean up the last fox. Dan and a man, with what looked the conjured sword, killed the last fox together. The entire group, including Dan, collapsed, exhausted from the intense fight, and shivering at the horrors of having their bodies torn open. After a while though Dan sat up to see the man that had conjured swords staring at him. Deciding to take the initiative of the conversation, Dan began to speak.

“Hello there, uh, I’m Dan. It’s nice to meet you all.” No one responded for a long moment before everyone burst into laughter as though Dan had made some joke. Was it his low charisma? Surely they wouldn’t like him though if it were, right? Dan sat completely dumbfounded until the obvious leader of the group stood up and helped him to his feet, having the rest of them do the same.

“Dan, I am so glad to see you. Sorry about the laughter but what you said was just too reminiscent of someone we used to know. Anyways, my name is Revon. I’m a conjuration based mage, focusing on weapons.” He looked furtively around before adding in an undertone, “Don’t tell your mages college that though. I don’t have the money to pay their accursed fees.”

“Fees? And I’m not with the college, what gave you that idea?” Dan realized how stupid that question sounded the moment it came from his mouth. He was surrounded by summoned bunnies, and had just finished healing the slingshot sniper guy, he really needed to find out his name so he didn’t need to call him that, with the flesh of the foxes.

“Well if you’re as flashy a mage right now as you are in the city there’s no way they haven’t forced you to sign up.” Looking at Dan’s nonplussed face Revon realized he somehow wasn’t with the college. “I’m surprised no one’s told you about it. When you gain a mage spell you’re forced to register with the college, meaning you have to pay a large fee, on top of a portion of all money made.”

Dan’s face showed how revulsive the thought of that was. “Why would anyone bother joining them at that point?” Dan couldn’t imagine giving up any of his gear or items to please some pompous college.

“Well obviously no player would willingly sign themselves over to the college. But if they catch you they will mark you with the rogue mage title meaning you can’t safely go anywhere in the city. And if rumour is true, if you have a full mage class they force you to take their overpriced classes, banishing you to the dungeons if you can’t pay. Even the king and queen have no say in it.”

Dan shook his head at the thought of having to go the Pay to Win route of the game. While he knew devs needed to make money back, he knew that there were better ways to do so. Speaking of, Dan realized there was no shop system or way to buy cosmetics or any kind of in game shop, but before he could inquire about it, Revon began speaking again.

“Enough about that though we should start heading back, it’ll be dark soon. Let’s start to walk back to the gates.” Nodding in time, he began to walk and look at his notifications before a golden light tore through the area, causing him to level up and remove the grime from around him. The sheer pleasure of such a thing was amazing, like being tipsy from breathing fresh ocean air. It was indescribable joy as much as Dan might try to describe it.

Experience Gained: 320 (Fox 40(x8) x 2). Bonus experience gained for every traveler saved in the group for up to 2x experience gained.

Congratulations for surviving a swarm! Since you did not participate through every round you have only gained the experience part of the reward. Experience Gained: 700.

Congratulations, you have leveled up!

Dan came down panting and had to stop himself from reaching to the sky to feel the pleasure of such a wonderful thing again. The other pushed him along after a few seconds and he slowly began to walk towards the gate.

“Wow, what in the world was that? Do you feel that everytime you level up?” Dan asked in sheer of of the pleasure he could feel, even though he wasn’t in a pod. The other’s nodded their heads’, their clothes in far better condition, likely due to the same level up that cleaned his armor. Clearing his throat Dan asked a relevant question, “I heard Revon’s name, but what about you with the slingshot?”

The Slingshotter spoke up barely taking a chance to breathe between sentences. “My username is TheSuperSilentSniper but you can call me Greg. As you can see both my name and weapon I am the ranged support for this small team. I was originally going to use a bow but I figured that was too generic so I switched when I found this lovely little thing sitting in the back of a shop. It’s a bit more difficult to use on the move but it hits far harder than a bow! It also changed my class from archer to Slingshoteer which gives me bonuses to not only the slingshot but thrown projectiles and traps. Though I haven’t come across any of those sadly. How about you though? You said you were Dan but what about your class? And what were you doing with those foxes that made them sink into the ground? And why is that big rabbit not unsummoned yet?”

Dan was thrown through a loop at the rapid fire response followed by the questions and took a minute to get his thoughts together before responding. “Well my original class was Necromage trying to become a tank necromancer but… well I did things in a way the system didn’t quite like so it punished me by changing my class to a more specialized version focused on… Rabbits.” Dan buried his hands in his face as he thought more about his new class. While it was certainly powerful, it was humiliating. Taking his mind off it he continued to speak.

“The big one, it’s known as a Raile, is my familiar, I think at least it is at least, so it is permanent unlike my other summoned Rabbit. Now for my final question, does he always do that?” Dan left out the part about the Raile killing him twice. Revon spent the whole time giggling throughout the rapid fire questioning and full out laughing as he heard Dan's class and brought himself to answer after he finished rolling on the ground from laughing at the ridiculousness of Dan's class.

“Ah, yeah, Greg does that if you get him talking. Otherwise he’s usually pretty quiet. Oh, and our last team member who died is Alicia. I’m sure she’s angry as hell right now but she’ll be happy that our group got rewarded for finishing the swarm.” His face looked quite dour as he thought of the last team member.

“Oh speaking of let’s add you to the group. It doesn’t look like you have one right now but we could use a tank like yourself. And it would help calm Alicia when she’s back on next. We’re all on headsets though, so if you’re in a pod then you’ll have to wait a day to group up with us.”

He looked happier as Dan agreed to join their group as the walls of the gate started to tower over them. As they approached the gates with the sun setting behind them, the Guards waiting lowered their spears at the group. “Halt, you are not allowed to bring wild animals within the city. Please return the rabbit to the forest.”

“He’s not wild, he's my familiar,” Dan protested to the Guards who both shook their heads.

“Then you will have to have signed documentation from the Mage’s College confirming that. Unless you have that on you, then you will need to return it to the forest.” Dan’s face fell at that, knowing he couldn’t go to the college now, he turned to the large Rabbit and shooed it into the forest, hoping it could take care of itself when he wasn’t in the game.

Now let through the gates, the group went to a nearby inn, apparently when you left the game your avatar didn’t disappear like in most games so you were free to be robbed, got food to get rid of debuffs they were under and paid for two days of rent before bedding down.

Taking off his headset Dan felt woozy, almost as if his sight was split between the game and his room for a second, but he shook his head and went to take a shower. The hot water helped to clear his head and the building headache and he fell asleep, thinking about the last three days until his vacation next week.