The beast growled viciously, louder than before.

It was right behind them. They all spun around but saw nothing except trees and bushes. Where the hell was it?

“Sounds like Elki,” Beatrice said. “Carey, get behind us. Will, light.”

Will used his staff to cast a spell at the nearest tree. A glowing ball of pure white light shot out and stuck to the trunk, illuminating their section of forest. He cast two more in quick succession, all around them.

The creatures emerged from the forest. There were three of them—one large, two small ones at its flank. They were the ugliest, freakiest, most terrifying animals Carey had ever seen.

“A mom and two pups,” Will said. “Focus on the female.”

The Elki mother bared her shark-like teeth. She resembled a greyhound but with hairless, ashen, leathery skin. Bunches of bone spikes jutted from her spine, and the bright-red eyes of a demon sparked above her snout. Even the pups—which were smaller, slimmer versions of their mother, their bone spikes little more than stubs—looked vicious enough to kill.

“Let’s do this,” Beatrice shouted, flapping her wings hard enough to send her up into the air.

She hung there, a brilliant angel against the darkened tree boughs, wings flapping, hands casting moving shadows against her body in the magical light. A chant in a foreign language sprang from her lips.

Suddenly, her hands began to glow bright blue. She thrust them at Carey and Will, the glittering spell wrapping itself around their bodies, shrouding them like illuminated mist, just as the Elki mother sprang forward.

“Nice,” Will said as the Elki bounced off the shield.

It must have been a one-time protective barrier. The glittering mist around Will’s body quickly dissipated, though it stayed with Carey.

Will was already casting a spell—Fireball, by the looks of it.

The Elki mother interrupted it with a sudden lunge, her toothy jaws clamping tightly around Will’s forearm. He tried slamming his staff against the creature, to no avail.

-4 HP

Will tried to twist away. The Elki shook him violently. The damn thing was trying to tear his arm off.

-5 HP

-3 HP

Will was losing Health all over the place. Carey touched the dagger hanging off his belt, wondering if he should get involved.

“You got this,” Beatrice shouted down at Will.

Sparkling light engulfed her as she used an ability. Light as a Feather, the activity log informed Carey. She began to zip around overhead like a hummingbird, slashing her Coral Knife at the female and her pups. It was some sort of slashing ability with an area-of-effect component.

Nice.

Blue light exploded from the crystal at the tip of Will’s staff. Instantly, both of his arms burst into flames. The Elki mother let out a sharp whine and fell back several steps.

-9 HP (Weakness)

The numbers floated away from the Elki’s Health bar, leaving it slightly diminished. They were weak against fire spells, clearly. Will must have already known this, as his next spell was yet another Fireball.

Their mother momentarily stunned, the pups appeared to lose their minds. They sprinted toward Carey.

“Oh shit nuggets!”

Luckily, he still had that magical shield. They bounced off him with tiny, pathetic yelps of pain.

Beatrice was too busy casting a healing spell on Will to notice. Will was too busy readying what appeared to be a lava spell, his hands weaving around a growing, flexing ball of liquid fire.

Focus! Do something!

Carey tried kicking the Elki pups.

-2 HP from the first.

-1 HP from the second.

The dagger. I need it!

An Elki pup leaped at him just as his frantic fingers attempted to grab the dagger’s hilt. Recalling the merchant’s advice, Carey sidestepped at the last second, the pup landing several feet away.

The other pup bit into his calf muscle.

“Ow! Ugly little bastard!”

The game pain was like an electric shock.

-7 HP

A loss of almost 10 percent of his Health. Grumbling, Carey jabbed at the Elki pup with his dagger.

-8 HP from the little monster.

Not bad.

He swung at it, interrupting its next attack.

-10 HP

The pup skulked away, whimpering for its mother.

A spell burbled nearby.

The clearing flashed bright orange. Will had launched the lava ball at the Elki mother, covering her in sizzling liquid fire. She yelped loudly, several times. Carey cringed at the sounds of pure agony escaping from her throat.

He tried not to let it distract him. He faced the pup as it lunged for his throat.

A bluish barrier—like one of those sheet-thin waterfalls in a theme-park pool—appeared inches in front of Carey’s face. The Elki pup slammed into it, causing ripples to spread across its surface. A shield of some sort.

Holy Water Barrier cast by BrazenBelle95, his activity log informed him.

Beatrice landed nearby.

“Stab it,” she shouted.

Carey readied himself. The pup growled, its eyes tiny pinpricks of red light. He waited for it to lunge at him, and when it finally did, he raised the dagger, holding it horizontally, and blocked the attack.

The pup lay on its side, stunned. Carey slashed at it before it could get back up.

DrollTroll slashes at Elki Pup for 10 damage

Carey minimized the log. Reading attack summaries would only distract him.

He slashed again, but the pup rolled to the right. A quick jab also failed to do anything; the pup easily evaded it by rolling to its left.

“Stand still!”

The pup lunged at him again, successfully biting his throat with a quick snap of its jaws. He punched the creature and sent it falling to the ground.

-13 HP

Carey rubbed his throat. A useless motion left over from his life in the real world. Game pain was so weird. A sensation like a cold electric shock flashed across his skin. Rubbing it did nothing, and after a few seconds, it faded completely on its own.

He readied himself again, the pup sprinting toward him, his dagger rising to block it, when a fireball slammed into the pup and sent it crashing into a small bush.

Carey spun around. The Elki mother was dead, her body still smoking from Will’s spell.

Will was grinning at him.

“You liked that lava action, huh?”

His LP bar was about 90 percent gone. The fight had drained his magic powers, which seemed ominous to Carey. What if a couple of Elki males had shown up instead?

Carey crossed his arms. “Better take a look at your LP, showoff. That mom drained your—”

“Dude,” Will interrupted, “I just saved your ass. Can’t you even be a tiny bit grateful. Damn!”

EXPERIENCE GAINED: 120 points (170/1,000 to next level)

“That’s it?” Carey said, flinging his arms in frustration.

Beatrice walked up to them. “Nice work, everyone. Now, let’s go cozy up by a fire and get to know each other.”

“You can get to know me anytime, sweetheart,” Carey said, wagging his eyebrows.

She gave him an incredulous look. “Don’t push me.”

“Whoa, relax. Hey, I got a question for you two. What difference does it make if I’m officially in a party with you winners?”

Will explained. “You gotta be formally invited through the system. Being in a party changes how you collect experience, and the way loot is shared. Speaking of loot, open your activity log.”

Carey did as told, watching as Will walked over to the still-smoking Elki mother and searched it.

Will began handing loot over to Carey. Notifications appeared in his log.

(23) Copper Coins

(3) Leather Strips

(1) Minor Nectar potion

(1) Slotted Short Sword Component – Pommel

(1) Slotted Short Sword Component – Grip

“Cool,” Carey said. “Crafting components for a Slotted—wait, is there a slot to insert—”

“Enchanted emeralds,” Will said. “By the way, those leather strips can be used at workbenches to craft things like armor.” He lifted something dark and weird looking with one hand. “Here. Eat this.”

It was a charred brown lump—clearly meat taken from the Elki—and it smelled surprisingly delicious.

As soon as he accepted the meat, a notification appeared in Carey’s log. (3) Charred Elki Thigh received. Licking his lips, he brought it to his mouth, the smell reminding him of some distant barbecue, his dad at the grill, scolding him for being impatient when all he’d wanted was a hot dog.

He took a bite. The heavenly taste of juicy, grilled steak hit him in a wave of pure pleasure. It lasted only a few seconds, the item having disappeared as soon as it touched his lips. There was nothing to chew, no aftertaste to enjoy. Just three seconds of bliss.

+2 HP

(1) Charred Elki Thigh removed from inventory

The icon of the stomach, which had been half empty before, gradually filled to the top. At least his hunger was taken care of. Carey assumed there would be penalties if he let it go to empty. The water drop icon told him his thirst was halfway to the danger zone.

“Weird,” Carey said. “Developers need to work on the whole eating experience. And you only get 3 points? Are you joking?”

“Someone needs to work on the whole complaining experience,” Beatrice said, smiling at her own joke.

Carey rolled his eyes at her.

Will explained. “Some of the animations and sensory experiences are a little crude, but I haven’t noticed any serious bugs or glitches. Yet. As for using food to heal yourself...”

+1 HP

“See?” Will lifted his brows, as if Carey should be jumping up and down with joy right now. “You gain points over time. The amount depends on your Constitution attribute.”

“I could also heal you,” Beatrice said, “but I’m kinda tired.”

“I’m kinda tired of your attitude,” Carey threw back at her.

“Why don’t you go screw—”

“Can it, guys,” Will snapped at them. “Let’s hit up Irados so Carey can finish leveling and we can call it a night. We’ll figure out our next move at breakfast. Damn, I could drink so much beer right now, I’d need a Resurrection Elixir just to wake up!”

Carey meant to ask about Resurrection Elixirs, but instead, he daydreamed about drinking beer. It was one of his great passions in life, slurping brewskies. They followed the Savant along the dark trail, his staff lighting the way.