Some began rising into the sky not too far away from where they stood. Gathered around the large tree at the heart of the orchard, Kyle and the elves shot worried glances towards the smoke and flames visible through the trees.
They were burning the orchard.
The elves gritted their teeth and tightened their grasp around their weapons, but none of them tried anything futile. Kyle respected their discipline.
His gaze remained fixed on the oversized insects surrounding them. Large praying mantises, ants, and other despicable, disgusting creatures swayed back and forth, clicking, and screeching constantly. They were waiting for the elves to make the first move.
“Stall.” Kyle whispered softly. The elven leader standing beside him nodded. He knew just as well as Kyle did that they couldn’t win against these bugs, even with the protective spells around the heart of the orchard. They needed aid, Cacophus needed to arrive, now!
Kyle shot a glance east,
The smell of charred wood and burnt bodies lingered in the air despite the mild breeze. It was too strong to be washed away simply like that. Too many trees had been burned, too many bodies incinerated. “How are they?” Kyle asked the elven leader as the tall elf stood by the large tree at the heart of the orchard. The wounded had been carried off further up north, to where the smell of death and loss didn’t reach. “Not well,” The elf said softly. He pressed his palm against the large, sickly tree. “It was getting better,” He said with a bitter smile on his lips. “The venom was almost gone, and your Lich’s spell would be easy to revoke as he is our – your – ally. It was getting much better.” Kyle looked away. Seeing the elf broken and distraught like this felt wrong. “I’m sorry,” He finally muttered. “I should have come earlier. I was too late, this happened because of me.” He clenched his fists. It was all that stupid paladin’s fault! Had he no
Kyle lay on the fur covered bed. It was soft and cosy – exactly what he felt he needed at the moment. He had spoken with Cacophus before heading off to his own room. Asked why the Lich had arrived so late. The answer had been simpler than he expected. He had raised an entire army before coming here, because he didn’t think the one and a half dozen miner skeletons would be useful in battle. Kyle’s anger had faded when he heard the Lich’s answer. Cacophus had spent the journey back constantly apologising and promising to do better. He had left over half of his skeletons behind to protect and serve the elves, with no prompt from Aoris or Kyle. But still, Kyle couldn’t help but feel like something was off. He let out a sigh and shook his head. Maybe it was just his exhaustion speaking. He closed his eyes, but the bloody, gore filled images of the battle surfaced, causing him to immediately open his eyes again. He didn’t think he was going to be able to sl
‘New Message from Igna: Let’s meet! Come to the lake we killed the pondweed. I’ll be there at noon. Don’t be late~’ The sound of the notification woke Kyle up abruptly. Startled he, read the notification, then let out a sigh. “Damn it Igna, it’s still early…” He pouted and forced himself to get out of under the warm, soft, cosy blankets. He put on his cloak, then paused before the somewhat dirty and cracked mirror the skeletons had put up against the wall. Was this always here? He chuckled and shook his head – it was no matter. Looking at his dirtied and torn clothes, his shoulders dropped. He really ought to get some new garments. He left his room, heading to Cacophus’ study. The Fallen Knight Aoris had scolded the lich plenty the evening before, but Kyle also had a couple of words he wanted to speak. He paused before the closed door, then knocked. “AH YES, I
Her blunt words made him chuckle. “…yeah, yeah I do.” He tried to brush his messy hair back. “Yeah…” Igna sighed. “I get that you don’t visit the city often, or at all, but we need to get you some new clothes.” She pointed at his tattered clothing. “Something with defensive enchantments perhaps?” She suggested. “Those are expensive, Igna. I don’t have much gold yet. I haven’t been grinding for it at all.” Igna smirked. “Don’t worry about that!” Her bright, cheerful smile was almost blinding. “My treat!” Despite Kyle’s best attempts to refuse, he soon found himself being dragged towards Arceum, the city where nearly all players resided in. The trade capital of this world. “But Igna!” He tried to refuse for the tenth time within the last hour, only for her to shut him up, and point straight ahead as they climbed a hill. The city of Arceum entered their view as they reached the top of the hill. Surrounded by tall and thick
“Don’t touch it,” Kyle warned Igna as her hand reached for the cursed blade within the wooden box. “It’s apparently cursed, and I don’t know what it does.” The crimson haired woman shot him a quick glance. “Cursed, huh?” She muttered as she pulled her hand back. “Most interesting.” She leaned forward and looked at the weapon carefully. “Are you going to sell it here?” Kyle hesitated. “It’s of no use to me. I can’t risk a curse – what if it kills me?” He shrugged. “You could sell it in the auction and buy something defensive with those funds.” Igna suggested as she reached for the lid and closed the box. “You’ve been levelling since we last met, haven’t you? You’re probably beginning to notice the shortcomings of your class.” Kyle nodded. How couldn’t he notice them? “Lack of mana, lack of healing and sustain, lack of mobility.” He shrugged. “I don’t know how to cover these.” Igna smirked. “Well, what are your strengths?” Kyle pursed hi
Sitting on the soft cushions of the couch on the balcony overlooking the auction hall, Kyle couldn’t help but feel very much out of place. Until now, the most luxury he had anywhere within this game had been his fur covered bed in Cacophus’ cave. “There’s still some time before the first items are shown.” Igna cheerfully said. She fitted right in here. She had immediately gotten a glass of some kind of juice and was drinking it while sitting comfortably. She didn’t out of place at all. Not one bit. “Right,” Kyle muttered. He simply couldn’t relax. “Oh, by the way,” Igna placed her glass of juice on the table beside her. “Kyle, a week from now, the patch I talked about will happen.” The young man flinched. “Oh, right.” He had completely forgotten about that. “Yeah, that’s next week, isn’t it?” Igna nodded. She leaned forward, her intense gaze on him. “I’m worried. What if you don’t survive the maintenance?”
“What?” She smirked as silence covered the auction hall. A second passed, then another, then a third. Eventually, the auctioneer declared her the winner, and soon the man with the moustache, suit and top hat opened the door to bring her the box containing the cursed blade. “It was a pleasure to do business with you, madam.” He said with a bow, then handed Kyle a bag full of gold coins. All two thousand of them. Kyle thanked the man, and as soon as he left, looked at Igna. “You could have just told me you wanted it!” he hissed. “You didn’t have to pay all this money for it.” Igna raised her chin with pride. “You fought tooth and nail for that blade, risking possibly your life. I’m not about to rob you of whatever opportunity you’ve earned.” She then smirked. “Besides, seeing your expression was worth it!” She started giggling after trying to mimic his shock. Kyle let out a sigh. “Well… thanks I guess.” He chuckled softly, but from how nobody even tried
The wealthy side of the city of Arceum was about as breath taking as one would expect. The white marble villas and mansions on either side of the road look almost unreal. Everything was incredibly clean, spotless even. Not a single fallen leaf on the ground, not a single weird or overgrown patch of grass in the lawns. “Is this where the player houses are?” Kyle asked as he looked around. The more he looked, the less real all of this seemed. Being too perfect was a thing, and this place was exactly that. Too perfect. Too clean, too symmetrical, too orderly. Igna nodded. “Most of the wealthy buy these villas. Me and my friend bought one of the smaller mansions at the very end of the street together, it’s mostly pointless to spend too much gold on these places since the housing and land claiming system will soon be put in place.” Kyle fell silent. She was right, it made no sense to spend money on any of these, even if they looked fairly nice. Too nice. He shook