We decided to stay by the lake. For now.
The crackle of our campfire was a welcome respite from the persistent background sounds of nature, even if it couldn't quite drown out the chorus of insects chirping and the occasional rustle in the undergrowth.
"Okay." Oliver started, her tone suggesting that she wasn't in the mood for more shenanigans. "So, we've got some shiny new weapons. What the fuck are we supposed to do now? Go fight the big bad and live happily ever after?"
"Uh, yeah, no. We need to get stronger first." Jeremy suggested, twirling the glowing orb around her finger. "That was a close one."
"You think?" I scoffed.
"Fuck." Oliver muttered, leaning forward.
"What?" Theo said, worry creeping in her tone. "Did we miss something? Is there more danger?"
Oliver pointed at Jeremy, then at the glowing object she was playing with. "She just casually mentioned we need to get 'stronger', and all I can think of is grinding in a video game. How long are we going to pretend that this doesn't feel like an RPG?"
"The fact that you mention grinding first before pointing out everything else tells me more about your gaming habits than you probably intended." Jeremy commented, a small grin teasing the corner of her lips.
I rolled my eyes. Of course she would say that.
"It doesn't matter!" Oliver blurted out, her cheeks taking on the slightest hint of red, though her voice was still stern. "What matters is that you can't deny there are game mechanics involved. Just like..." She trailed off. "Like, think about the crystal thingy." She gestured at the glowing sphere in Jeremy's hands. "It's clearly magical or some shit like that."
"Well, that's obvious. This isn't our world. It's like a cross between Lord of the Rings and... well, whatever it's mixed with." I replied.
Oliver huffed.
Theo sighed. "So, is anyone going to talk about how weird this whole situation is?"
"It's not just weird; it's fucking bonkers!" Oliver agreed emphatically. She turned to Theo with a raised eyebrow. "You know, I never thought of you as a gamer."
"Well, I do love my simulation games. Mostly city builders and whatnot, though."
Jeremy threw an arm over Theo's shoulder, grinning. "And now, my dearest Theo, you're living the ultimate open world sim."
Theo gave a half-hearted laugh. "It's like the ultimate challenge. Build a society from scratch."
"Let's just not die, please." I suggested. "There are too many unknowns here."
"Still, if this really is an RPG-style fantasy world." Jeremy began. "We've got two options: level up, or learn to be clever bitches." Her grin was contagious. "My vote? Clever bitch, all the way."
"Why not both?" I shrugged.
"Both?" Jeremy turned towards Oliver and Theo.
"Both." They nodded in unison.
Jeremy turned towards me, nodding along. "Both is good."
I chuckled at how quick everyone was on board.
"So." Oliver started. "Level up and get smart. Okay, level up first. How do we go about that? Find monsters and beat them until they stop twitching?"
"I think I have a better idea." I said, my tone shifting to something more thoughtful. "The goblins seemed weak compared to us, even though it was our first fight. That could mean a couple of things: either we're already stronger than a bunch of them combined. Or they're just naturally weaker, physically, than us."
Oliver nodded along. "Makes sense."
"And what does this have to do with leveling up?" Jeremy asked, a hint of excitement creeping into her voice. "Are you saying we should find and fight some goblins?"
"It just makes more sense to go back to the starting point and grind our way from there instead of hunting bigger prey and potentially getting stomped. We need to assess our own capabilities first." I explained. "That means we need to fight some more goblins."
"So, we're playing this like a game?" Oliver asked, an eyebrow raised.
I smirked. "I'm going to pretend that's not a rhetorical question."
"What if they've moved on from there, or they've beefed up after what we did?" Theo said, her tone cautious yet curious. "Should we really be gambling on finding them again?"
I thought for a moment. "If they're not there anymore, it's probably because of other threats in the area, like trolls, or worse. If they're still around... well, then, we'll have our targets. It'll probably also tell us if we can find more items, or if that was just a lucky find." I elaborated. "And besides, what other option is there?"
Oliver grunted, her expression turning pensive. "We can't just aimlessly wander around. We'd die before we even learned the first thing about surviving out here."
The plains stretched on as far as the eye could see. We had no directions and no idea whether we'd make it out of there in a day, a week, or a year. For all we knew, the nearest town or settlement could have been hundreds of miles away.
"What if we run into a larger tribe? That might be a little too much to take on..." Theo said, growing increasingly concerned as the idea began to take off.
"Hm." I looked at the ground. The idea of facing so many of those green fiends wasn't a particularly appealing prospect, yet I wasn't so downright terrified by the idea. In fact—oddly enough—I had some sort of twisted confidence that we'd manage, just the four of us. I grabbed a sword from the pile. It had blood stains on it; they weren't fresh. "So what? Aren't we four bad bitches?"
Jeremy flung towards me, hugging and shaking me. "Seb! Where have you been hiding this confident side? I'm loving this!"
"Calm your tits." Oliver rolled her eyes. "Let's just figure out what we're doing before someone decides to go full murder-hobo."
"I think the 'confident side' was unlocked after I decided to kick a troll's balls." I chuckled.
Oliver snickered, shaking her head. "Fair point."
That being said, we began to make an inventory of what we currently owned.
We ended up making a little stockpile. We didn't have much, but we had a decent amount of coins. A glowing orb. And a motley collection of weapons. None of them were in pristine condition; most were scratched or dented in places, but they seemed serviceable.
Jeremy, of course, couldn't help but comment on every item as we added it to our little pile.
We ended up deciding that our next step was to level up and grind. The best targets would be goblins and other critters we could take care of easily.
We still were new to the area and were thus completely lost, which would be problematic for a while longer.
"We're like the newbies in the starting village." Jeremy quipped.
"Yep, and it fucking sucks." Oliver muttered, kicking a rock. "How long until we find an actual village, huh? We don't even know the damn name of the continent. Do continents even have names in a world like this? God, this is such bullshit." She rubbed the bridge of her nose.
Jeremy reached out to ruffle Oliver's hair. "You need to stop stressing out. Just think of it as an epic adventure."
I laughed softly as Oliver indignantly swatted Jeremy's hand away.
xXx
The next day, we headed out to track down the goblin camp again. To do so, we retraced our steps back to the forest where the ambush had taken place, following our initial path in reverse. Except that this time, we were more prepared. "As long as we don't stumble upon goblins going at it..." I said, all of a sudden. "I'd rather avoid a repeat of that."
Theo and Oliver visibly cringed. "Let's not think about that." Oliver muttered.
"Yeah..." Theo replied.
"So let's just be quiet, okay?" Oliver suggested, eyeing Jeremy with a hard gaze. "Quiet is key."
"Sure thing. Quiet." Jeremy nodded.
Thankfully, as we traversed through the underbrush, we didn't stumble upon any mating creatures.
But we did find traces of something that had been dragging a body along.
"Well... did they kill one of their own?" Oliver asked.
Jeremy bent down to inspect the trail closely. Her eyes were hyperfocused as she studied every little detail. "Not their own, I don't think. Look." She pointed out some details in the imprints on the ground. "Those are definitely claw prints, and these drag marks behind them are too big for a goblin."
I tilted my head as I looked down at the tracks. "What do you think it could be?" I asked, intrigued by Jeremy's observation.
"Could be anything. Maybe the goblins managed to kill some other beast and they're bringing it back to camp. For dinner, who knows." Jeremy responded. "I can't quite pinpoint what this might be though. See how the earth is torn up here and here? It's heavy. But the disturbance is in multiple spots. Either it's one big beast with one too many limbs or... it's more than one thing."
"Okay. And?" Theo said, looking down at the tracks. "I don't see how many feet it has."
"Let's just follow these." Jeremy suggested, pointing ahead.
"Sure thing. Following is easy." I responded.
Oliver and Theo exchanged a wary glance before shrugging.
I shrugged as well.
And with that, we were back on track—following a set of goblin's prints.
It was like we were tracking wild animals, except our 'wild animals' happened to have some intelligence and could prove to more than we could chew. I rolled my shoulder. Still a bit of pain, but usable. My grip on the sword tightened.
Jeremy was leading us this time, her eyes absorbing every disturbance, every broken branch, every scuff in the soil. It was honestly amazing. We weren't even slowing down to study the environment. It was almost like her eyes managed to catch all that information as we moved.
"Impressive." I commented, not quite knowing how else to put it.
She smirked. "Don't get hard."
"That is the least sexy comment anyone could ever make." Oliver retorted, making me chuckle and Theo give an exasperated sigh. Jeremy just grinned wider, clearly enjoying being at the centre of attention.
I blinked, a subtle tingling in the back of my neck. 'What the...' I didn't think about why, I just trusted my instincts.
Jeremy, who had been a few steps ahead, too busy reading the environment, found herself being yanked back just as an arrow flew past and embedded in a nearby tree.
"Well, would you look at that..." I said, my eyes fixed on the projectile. "It looks like we were going in the right direction."
Jeremy was momentarily startled, her chest heaving from the near-death experience. But when she glanced back to see the arrow lodged deep in the wood, a grin crept across her face. "You fuckers almost shot my nipple off." She then shouted towards the treeline. "You little green perverts, come on out and fight like the horny bastards you are!"
In the next instant, a dozen or so goblins erupted from the undergrowth and the nearest bushes.
One, two, three, four, five—wait, there was a second group—six, seven, eight, nine, ten!
Four against ten, not exactly flattering odds.
But Jeremy instantly drew her bow and immediately shot one down. The creature had its eye pierced and mangled, sending out a bloodcurdling screech as it tumbled forward.
Okay, now four against nine. Better. Kinda.
But there were archers among them. "Go for the archers, Jeremy." I said, tilting my head in time just as one arrow whizzed past my ear.
I brandished my sword. All I knew was stabbing, hacking, and slashing. But for some reason, I felt like I could develop a more helpful pattern of attacks.
Something more efficient.
"Right!"
She began firing arrows, managing to shoot two down in rapid succession, their tiny bodies convulsing from the force of impact. 100% accuracy, even under duress and while in constant motion to dodge the returning projectiles. The girl had a knack.
Seven against us.
I charged in.