The creature chased after her for quite some time, but she was finally able to reach the small clearing and the hut where Van was still waiting.
“Did you get something?” Van asked.
“Sort of!” she said as she hurriedly ran up to the Fiend. It hadn’t moved an inch from where it had been when she’d left. That alone was extremely creepy, and she tried to ignore the fact that it didn’t have a face. Instead, she threw the large earring into the hands of the creature. The Fiend nodded in response, and then melted into the ground, leaving them alone. Several thousand experience points rushed to the screen.
“Nice work!” Van said. “I thought we were done for!”
“Yeah, about that…” Sang started, knowing there was no time for her to even check her level.
“I bet that hut has all sorts of treasure—” Van’s words were interrupted by a loud screaming as the trees behind them smashed to bits and the Giant strolled out.
“Give it back! Rarrrrg!” the giant screamed.
“Why is there a Giant? And why is its ear bleeding?” Van asked.
“Long story short, I stole that earring and we’re going to die if we don’t escape!” Sang replied as she scrambled in the opposite direction of the Giant.
“Are you kidding me? Why? Why do you hate me?” Van demanded as they ran away from the massive creature stomping along behind them.
“Is there any way to stop it?”
“Kill it!” Van yelled, glancing back at the thing. “It’s way too high-level for us to even hope to kill it, though! One hit, and we’re both gonna die.”
“I’m well aware of that,” Sang screamed back as they ran.
“It’s chasing you, right?” Van asked.
“Yes!” she cried back as she narrowly dodged a massive tree trunk that had been hurled at her by the Giant. The tree crashed into the water right in front of her, blocking her off from where she’d been heading.
“Then use your Stealth skill! Hide from it and it won’t bother me!”
“Oh, right…” Sang glanced at her character sheet as she ran and saw her Stealth skill. Why hadn’t she thought of that before? She activated her stealth mode and felt a strange sensation overcome her as her skin became translucent. An outline around her indicated what her level of camouflage was: she was at 50%.
“Find better cover! Like in a bush or something!” Van instructed as he stood off to the side. The Giant stomped right past him and over to where Sang was. She crept over to the bushes and saw her camouflage rating increase to 80%.
“Where are you?” the Giant shouted. He scanned the area for a few moments and shook his head. He turned around then and began to walk back in the direction from where he’d come. She could see his silhouette turn from red to gray again, meaning that he was neutral.
“Did… did he just completely forget about me?” Sang asked.
“Yeah, it’s called Aggro. When you lose a monster’s Aggro, it usually goes back into neutral.”
“Will it remember me?”
“Depends on the AI, but a Swamp Giant usually won’t,” Van explained. “I think we’re in the clear. Nice work!”
“Thank you... Well, we’ve leveled up, haven’t we?”
“I’d wager to say we got plenty of experience from both encounters; let’s take a look and then get to Hearthborne,” Van said.
Sang paused a moment and fixed up her character, improving it greatly.
Looking over the sheet, Sang smiled at her character choices. Even though she didn’t particularly like gaming, she was getting better at understanding the world and the logic behind all of it. She had successfully improvised enough to snag the diamond from the Giant, and had accomplished some set goals on her own. She eyed Van, who was sitting on the ground mumbling to himself about improving his skills. Maybe if she were lucky, she’d be able to learn enough about this game to where she wouldn’t need him for very much longer.
It made sense that eventually she’d be able to part ways with him, right? If teamwork was so important, then perhaps they’ve to bring another agent in, if anything—someone she could better depend on. Van wasn’t an agent, and nor was he disciplined enough to be a good accomplice. Rather, he was too unreliable to be a good teammate in the long run, she told herself. Eventually, they were going to run into some kind of real trouble and his own selfish ambitions would get the better part of him. She didn’t particularly dislike the man, but there was a frustration in the fact that the only thing motivating him was his motivation for gain. The CIA had some dirt on him, and that was the sole reason he was with her. She wasn’t an idiot... she had pressed enough to gain information on the arrangement, and realized that if Van’s loyalty was coming from a sense of being threatened, then it meant that he would eventually end up being a liability. She knew that you could only force a man to comply for so long before he would snap. This was no different.
“Done?” Van asked as he stood up and stretched out.
“Yes, I am,” she replied.
“Great! Let’s go get to the town as quickly as possible,” Van said with a friendly smile. She scowled a little at him, but didn’t say anything. She knew it was only a matter of time before his true colors emerged, and then what?
Chapter Nine
Sang quietly followed Van through the town of Hearthborne. The scenery had changed significantly since they’d been in the bright village by the ocean. Now they were at the base of a massive mountain range and it wasn’t particularly pretty outside. The sky was blood red, and the town seemed to be hushed, even muted. NPCs scuttled from house to house, and there were very few people outside at any given time. There was the perpetual smell of charcoal and ash that had made Sang gag initially, though, and with each breath it seemed to just get worse. The smell of smoke was simply ever-present.
“Here’s the place!” Van said as they walked up to the tavern. “Here’s where we can find a party for our first dungeon.”
“I said we were doing this all alone,” Sang protested.
Van spun around and faced her, shaking his head. “The problem is that we can’t get the right questline without the proper amount of people. See, in order to unlock the Mountains of Mortal Peril, we must get an NPC. There’s one quest coming up that can help us get a companion NPC guide, The Thorne in the Sheriff’s Side, but we need people to do that.”
“How many?”
“I think three or four should do it. But three as the minimum.”
Sang crossed her arms. “I don’t like working with people I don’t know. Who’s to say we can trust them?”
“Well, from what I can tell, it seems like you don’t like working with people that you do know either, so deal with it. Come on, let’s go.”
And with that, Van entered into the Staggering Miner Tavern.
Sang grumbled, but followed after him, entering the ornately decorated tavern. The inside was a lot different than she would have expected. The walls were all made out of stone, as were the tables and chairs. Everything seemed to have been crafted expertly. She was even somewhat impressed with the design. It was strange, but as she continued to get deeper and deeper into the game, the more she admired the craftsmanship that went into rendering and designing the world. Sometimes she would even forget, for a very brief moment, that she was inside of a video game. Those moments were strange, but it was hard to deny that they existed.
“Perfect, check out all those players!” Van said, pointing out all of the people who were sitting at the tables and drinking. They were dressed much differently than the NPCs that Sang had encountered previously, and the way they talked indicated that they were indeed real people.