Player Initiated

6 - Too Strong

A gigantic black mass emerged from the bush. 

There was a flash of purple, white and black, then pain exploded in his chest. 

He woke up on the ground, with his cellphone beside him. 

On the cellphone screen, the boar is stepping on his body. His bow and arrows laid a way off from the ground. 

Eric collected them into the pouch in the game. 

[ Malor ] 

[ A very powerful bow from an other worlder. ] 

[ This item has been gamified. ]

[ You can retrieve the item by taking revenge on the foe ] 

‘ Damn it ! ‘ 

He thought too lightly of the hunt. Ancients are not wrong. Preparation is the key to winning. 

There is just something about that drum-like breathing sound behind his back, that rustling of bushes full of ‘popping’ sounds of branches breaking, that subtle tremor of the ground as the boar approaches that fills his heart and head with fear. Despite knowing it’s a game, he almost lost his wits ! 

‘ I underestimated this task … ‘ Eric thought. However, if there is one merit to his character, it is persistence. It is because of his persistence that he entered the university of his choice even when the competition has become four times as tough. 

First, he opened forums, checked for boar killing tutorials. 

‘ No wonder I died so fast ! This beast is meant to be killed with a team !  On top of that, it takes thirty arrows. ‘ he read with shock. That teaches him to do his due diligence by searching online. 

The day was already dark, so Eric returned to the village. 

                                                               ▬ ●◘● ▬

When he came home, his mother was seriously convincing his grandfather not to sign the addendum that the filming team has forced on them. 

“ What is it mother ? “ Eric asked. 

“ These crooks of the show biz ! They are full of shit as soon as they open their mouth. Look at this ! They don’t want your grandfather to make any repairs to the house until filming is over. Next month is the typhoon month. Even if there’s no typhoon, the rain and wind would be too strong ! How can they live in this house without repairing it ? “ she complained. 

Eric took over the contract. 

He expected something like this to happen. He also knew the team would insist on not repairing the house, given the theme of poverty. At present, it's best to make most of these conditions, since he knew the house would be lost in typhoon. 

Eric adjusted two clauses in the contract. One, there will be immediate compensation of another fifty thousand dollars for signing the contract. The second was that if there is any damage to the house or people due not doing the repairs, then the filming team will pay appropriate compensation for the loss. In the case of a house, it includes the price sum of sourcing the same materials to build the house. Or people, it includes the medical bills to lost livelihood compensation. 

For the record, at the moment they have placed orders for titanium alloy support beams for the house as well as salt spray resistant tarpaulins. Eric made a record of detailed plan of what repairs he intended to do on the video website as a proof. 

The filming team agreed readily. In fact, it’s so fast, Eric wondered what was the catch ! The amount he is asking for is not small. 

“ Grandpa ! Let's change the location of the house. No matter how much we repair this house, it’s impossible for it to come back to its original glory. Build a house that we can come back to every summer. " he told his grandfather. 

If it were before, his grandfather would have scolded saying he’s a city kid who knows nothing of the island. 

However, the two rabbits, camping area and the boat recovery has convinced his grandfather of Eric’s vision. 

“ Where does our grandson want to live ? “ his grandfather asked curiously. 

“ In the dragon maw. “ Eric answered. 

His grandfather was too shocked to say anything. His mother has plenty to say ! 

“ Eric ! That plase is all the way up the mountain. Do you want your grandmother and grandfather to be dog-tired every day ? “ She scolded him. 

“ Mom ! Before, grandpa did not have money. But now, he does. If it were up to me, I want grandpa to leave the island, to love in the town near by. he doesn't want to. " Eric looked at his grandfather who looked sheepish. his mother quieted down.  Eric continued. 

" We can easily build a road up to the dragon maw. We could build a reinforced concrete house in the little plateau. We can even clear some of the bamboo grove to create a vegetable patch. The temperature does not fluctuate in that area. It is cool in summer, and warm in winter. I can install the solar panels on the cliff face to run the electricity, and a signal pole right atop the house. Moreover, as long as we build the road, it takes less distance to get to the pier. We can convert the current village into farm land. As long as the crops are managed well, gramps would have surplus food with lots of variety. “ Eric opined. 

His mother paused. 

Actually, it’s not a bad idea. Just two acres is enough to grow grain for her parents. The real problem on the island is that there is nothing to eat except fish and rice. Vegetables last at most a week. . In the long run, this is not good for health. On top of that, breathing in humid air all around the year is not good for health.

A day long boat trip to just replenish fresh produce is too expensive. 

Dragon maw is a special place. For some strange reason, it’s not at all humid compared to the rest of the island. It’s naturally protected from elements of nature, more importantly, it has a killer view. 

“ We will make a trip tomorrow along with Mimi. We will talk about this after coming back. “ his mother said finally, and that was the end of the discussion. 

Eric nodded, and the day ended like that. 

The next morning, Eric informed the intern who’s going to film him that he was going to spend the entire day gaming under the signal tower. After all, he’s got a boar to kill. Yesterday night, he just figured a way to enter the phone without his physical body following him in. Only, he would look very still, like a newyork square human statue. 

Thus, while his mother and grandparents have gone to survey the land, Eric settled down on the beach, in the shadow of his desalination umbrellas. 

Once again, he entered the game. This time around, he calmed his mind, focussed his thoughts, and ran away from the boar. He went straight to the only boulder in the room, got atop it. The boar is still charging at him. Eric pulled the arrow, shot it straight at the boar, a third way from the it’s butt.

This is his fourteenth try. He was trampled to death, bitten to death, crushed to death or even drowned to death in his own blood … in a spawn of one hour, he experienced all sorts of weird deaths. 

Before the boar could run away, he notched a few more arrows, started shooting them at the fastest speed he could. That is not enough. 

The boar hit the boulder at full speed with all of its strength. The boulder flew into the air, tilting back, throwing him on the ground. The boar looked at him stupidly. The boulder fell right on top of the boar’s head, cracking it. Then, it rolled forward, falling on Eric, crushing him . 

…

..

.

[ 1 HP remaining. ] 

[ exp + 30 ] 

Eric felt pain all over his body. Yet, he smiled. 

Finally , He won. 

Now, it’s time to go and play in the forest. It’s been a while since they had meat. He’s craving some wild pork. Eric climbed all the way up to the dragon’s maw, the plateau he selected for his grandfather's new house. 

The wild boars are hunted at night. He already measured wind direction and speed. Tonight, at exactly eight, the wind direction reverses, making the dragon maw become the downwind position. The boars have a very bad vision, but they have an excellent sense of smell. 

The boars are dangerous, but timid. If they sense a foreign smell, they will run away before he could so much as string an arrow. For this, Eric found a great solution. The dragon maw mountain has a inward curve type cliff on the other side. He already fixed stiles to the rocky cliff, so that he could rappel down to this inward curve. Here, he will hang on a wooden board, then, with the help of infrared goggles and perfecto skill, he could shoot down the boars. 

Even if they run, the boars will be running along the coast of the stream, which forms a pin bend in front of this cliff. When in panic, animals usually follow the path they know. For hogs, this is the bank of the stream, which forms the pinbend curve. I.e. no matter where they run, they would be in range for his bow. 

He reorganized the inventory, so he could grab exactly three arrows at a time. Then he sat on the swing board, two hundred meters above ground, waiting for the wind direction to shift. 

Exactly at 8 pm, the wind shifted direction as if earth’s rotation direction changed. Eric woke up from his doze, looked through his infrared goggles. 

Nothing as of yet. 

He went back to nap. 

Nothing at nine … nothing at ten .. nothing at eleve... Spotted ! 

There’s a giant red dot on the infrared goggles. Eric started counting immediately, his entire being coming alive. He is well rested, and full of power. 

one .. two … … thirty one. Twenty big creatures and eleven small creatures. A number too big for a small island to sustain. Sooner or later, the herd will break into the fields. 

He took the position. 

Aim. 

Shoot.