《>》Chapter 8: Forest Temple, A great ROAR, and then a villain?
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I opened my eyes and it’s still dark, looking at the time and its only 4:30am. Dragging my sluggish body to the bathroom, I gargled and brush my teeth. Changing my clothes into my track suit, I took my house keys and head outside to do my early morning routine.
Jogging on the quiet road where there are only a few vehicles that pass by, cold and gentle breeze in the morning I jog my way towards the empty park.
“As usual no one’s here at this time”
I started my ‘parkour’ activity by jumping on a branch of an old but low tree. The distance between trees are short and you can move from tree to tree by a simple jump. There are some cemented bench, statues and some activity areas that have a swing, see saw, slides, monkey bars, and other stuff you usually see in a park.
Jumping of a tree then roll my body on the ground to remove the impact I head towards the activity area to do something else.
All in all I finished my daily routine with a lot of sweat on my body so I left the park jogging back to my house to cool down.
-=+||+=-
“Connect to >”
I decided to play again after I took a bath, change my clothes and check that everything is in place.
Recovering from the effect after logging in I saw a dimly lit corner and observe my surroundings, everything is still the same except that there are more of those rats loitering near the safe area. It seems that the wards on this part are much stronger since these rats cannot enter.
Fixing myself up, after checking that I did not miss anything I continued my ‘Journey towards the ends of the Tunnel’.
Everything became monotonous as I proceed. Killing rats on the way while making sure not to get mobbed by them to avoid getting killed, I sometimes glace at the snail movement of my experience bar which I can’t help but let out a big sigh.
After several hours of long and boring journey I ended up in front of a huge door way or more like a gate since it’s as wide as this passage. Since its kind of rusted I struggled quite a bit opening it; I’m thinking of placing my stat points towards STR but I hesitated since I still haven’t made up my mind to which class I’m taking.
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There are some flights of stairs made of stone going up and at the end of that spiral stairs a simple wooden door. Opening the door revealed another passage way but this time it’s narrower than the one before and at the end of this path, something is blocking the way. Examining it further I tried to find some kind of a switch but nothing can be found so I tried to push it and it moved. Little by little I pushed the stone until the hole became big enough for me to go through.
Moving along after exiting the passage way I look back and saw a stone statue that is blocking the path.
“It seems to be a hidden passage” well obviously it is.
Looking around the place, you can see that the word ‘ancient ruins’ fit the bill. Vines and moss covered the walls, broken pillars, rotting doors and more than half of the roof is gone which is the cause of some small pools of water where some water lilies are growing. There are also some murals carved and some painted along the broken walls.
Finding nothing of value I walk out of this place and a dense forest greeted me. There is a small but broken pieces of stones lined up which might be an old path that leads to somewhere.
I observe my surroundings to ascertain my safety against monsters that might appear. Looking for any signs of danger, I noticed something odd. The forest is too quiet, this might be a game but I still keep in mind that a great game pays attention to details.
By the way, the game does not have an area map and if you really need it you have to buy one at the ‘Item Shop’. Of course there is an alternative way which is to buy one from other players which has the class of a Cartographer or a scout but these two classes can only make a map on places they visit and the map a Cartographer make is far more detailed than that of a scout.
*ROOOAR*
*WOOOSH*
A very loud roar and a sudden strong gust of wind came at me and it seems it came from the opposite direction where the ‘Ancient Ruins’ like place is facing.
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Staring as if I can see where it came from a sudden question hit me.
“To look or not to look” I said while debating which should I choose.
*poof*
The dare devil (DD) in me awakened and said “You should go at worst you will only loose a level and won’t be playing for one day in real life”
*poof*
The cautious type (Cur) in me also awakened and said “You should not go, that loud sound surely make the other monsters frightened and ran towards this direction”
“Are you an idiot, if something like that exist here other monsters end up in its belly. Look around you; can you even see a single monster around?”(DD)
“You’re the idiot one, this is a game and the common sense is where a boss monster is its minions also roam around. Have you ever played a game where there are no monsters near a boss monster huh? Were probably inside a safe area where monsters avoid going but if a wave of monsters came I don’t think that shabby antique of a place can hold us safe” (Cur)
“Coward *glare*” (DD)
“Reckless *glare*” (Cur)
*sparks*
I wave my hands to dispel my thoughts and in the end I decided to take a good look. This is a game so why not, it’s not like I’m going to die again in real life *laughs*.
And so I take my first step towards the sound.
“Hey where do you think you’re going boy”
But I stop before I make my second mighty step.
I look around to see who it is but there is nothing but trees and grass. Unless it’s a Trent but something like that does not have any capabilities of speaking.
Pausing for a moment while holding my chin, the only place I haven’t looked yet is the -------- yes the ground.
*whack*
“O~~~~W, that hurts” crunching down while holding my head and a small tear in my eyes I looked at my Health bar which is only at one third of its full capacity.
"What was that all about?" i turn around and saw an old man wearing a gray robe.
It does not look expensive, just a common Asian robe that is worn during old warring period. For reference you can just think of it like those Chinese heroic drama characters or Korean warring state drama costumes.
"Hmp, hateful kid" the old man's arrogant expression while looking down at me is really annoying. I thought of hitting him back but i remember that just a casual hit from me reduced my health to a third makes all my hostile thoughts disappear. Thinking that I'm currently at level five, this old man is really powerful.
"...?..! ...What the!"
"What are you looking at kid huh? Is this the first time you see a man as handsome as me?"
Talk about a narcissist. Arrogant old man that is also a narcissist, there is still something missing.
"Sir what type of girls do you like?" i asked
"And that’s the first thing you ask huh? what an odd thing" He looked at me from head to toe then said "from what I can see you’re definitely a man but asking my preference is.... fine whatever, I like women that has seductive curves." the old man then close his eyes and narrate everything while making perverted gestures " Big chest, plump butt, slim waist, porcelain like skin, and a beautiful face that has those pinkish lips that you will want to kiss every time you glace at it."
The old man nod several times after his narration and look at me again.
"...!. Hey kid what’s with that look you’re giving me as if you see something disgusting do you want to die?"
“I just confirmed something"
"What? Did you already notice my charms? hahahaha"
"Arrogant, narcissist and most of all a pervert now I can definitely say YOU ARE DEFINITELY A VILLAIN *thunder effects*" pointing at the old man confident at my deduction and a satisfied look on my face.
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