"The name's Priscilla." She said, and then quickly added, "Priscilla Hunter, and before you ask, yes, I do like to hunt." Her tone betrayed a smile, as she held out her hand.

Taking it, I simply replied, "Thomas Parker, and...." I said as I glanced towards the inanimate mess that once constituted the [Treant], "Thank you for the help, Priscilla."

---

"So..." Priscilla began to say, "Do you have any damn clue what's been going on lately?" she asked. "I swear, cause I was just out here in the woods, got myself knocked out somehow, and turns out the worlds gone to shit. You and your shit-for-brains friend over there are the first two damn people I've seen all week!"

Hell, she curses more than even Kevin does. I thought. "Look, I can explain that, but it might take a bit, and I'd really like to make sure my friend is doing alright."

She shrugged, "No shit I guess," she muttered.

As I made my way over to Kevin, I noticed that Priscilla followed me over. As I neared Kevin’s unconscious form, I was, at the very least relieved that he was still breathing, and I could see the rise and fall of his chest.

Kneeling beside him, I briefly looked over him. He was in pretty nasty shape, but as far as external injuries went, he should have too difficult of a recovery. Plus, his constitution was fairly high, so, I figured by tomorrow he’d likely be up and walking again. A similar situation had occurred back when we were fighting the demons at Washington Bridge, and by the next day, he was completely fine.

As such, I was fairly confident that we won’t have to worry in the long run, it’s just the short run that I was worried about.

I then realized that I could actually look up Kevin’s status whenever I wanted to anyways. It was a concept I was fairly unused to, and so, I pulled up his status.

Name: Kevin Reyes [ High-Human Paragon's Warrior ] Level: 5 | Experience: 158.12 / 228.13 Race: High-Human Titles: Bloodline of the High-Human Paragon Health 46/308 [342] ( +54 (60) / hour ) Stamina 74/132 [147] ( +12 (13.5) / hour ) Mana 34/34 [42] ( +7.5 (9) / hour ) Active Effects: Paragon’s Inspiration Attributes Strength: 46 (+5) Constitution: 36 (+4) Agility: 8 (+1) Wisdom: 5 (+1) Intelligence: 4 (+1) Free Attribute Points: 20   Skills: Basic Archery Proficiency T1 - Level 2 New! Basic Mana Manipulation - Level 1 Paragon's Inspiration - Level 2 New! Basic Dodge – Level 1 New! Basic Axe Proficiency – Level 1 New!   Free Skill Points: 5

The scary thing about the situation was the fact that without his [Paragon’s Inspiration] skill, Kevin likely would have ended up in a much worse predicament. There’s no doubt in my mind that the reason we were able to survive against an enemy so much stronger than us was because of our High-Human race, and our classes. Otherwise, it would’ve ended up a lot worse.

It looked like Kevin’s high constitution though was going to help him recover much quicker than he otherwise would. The [Paragon’s Inspiration] skill would net him a 10% stat increase while I was near him. It was quite powerful, even at its low level. I was quite curious about what the skill’s evolution would be though.

With Kevin’s situation mostly in check, I moved him off of the surely uncomfortable rock pile and onto some ash-covered grass. I then took the opportunity to head to the still-smoldering remains of the [Treant]. As I neared it, I instantly noticed the massive radiance of heat emanating from the remnant wood. Hardly any of it was on fire, but the force of my spell must have splintered much of the wood apart. The more interesting quality however was that the smoldering segments still on fire were spreading incredibly slowly, and not only that, but even with the small bit that was on fire, it was insanely hot.

It was obvious the [Treant] wasn’t made of any ordinary wood. I didn’t think that was the type of effect it would have though. My mana was extremely low, so unfortunately I couldn’t douse the slowly spreading flames, so instead, I dumped armloads of ash onto the fire until it was choked of oxygen and ceased to burn.

My reasoning behind this Was that I was certain the wood would be extremely useful to Jackson. The stuff burned way hotter and more efficient than any other fuel source I’ve seen at least. It was practically an entire tree's worth of wood too, so surely it would last Jackson a while?

Otherwise, with the fire now put out, I could finally inspect the pile. Unfortunately, the mana stone was destroyed, and would likely be useless to us. On the other hand, what I did find still made me elated.

Just as the quest had promised, we were granted class-specific items. I wasn’t sure at first what kind of item the system would classify a [Paragon] as, but was at the very least elated when I discovered a wooden necklace, likely made of a similar type of wood as the [Treant]. It was simple, but my [Appraisal] revealed why I was happy about it.

Name: Enchanted Amulet of the Garden of Remembrance Prerequisites: Charisma: 5 Values: The potency of Elemental Based Spells is Increased due to [Enchanted Treant Wood]. Charisma +5 Intelligence +5 Durability: 85/85 Info: The Amulet of the Garden of Remembrance, an amulet that holds a repertoire of being generally restricted to those of the nobility. It grants leadership attribute bonuses as well as increases the potency of elemental-class magics. Refined from the wood of a [Guardian] class [Treant], its materials are particularly conductive towards magical enchantments or runes.

The amulet was right up my alley. From the item I could infer that my class was definitely considered one acted more as a support role, with its leadership focus, however at this point I knew it was more than that. The class allowed me to fight on the frontlines too when push came to shove. Another interesting characteristic was the fact that the amulet itself was normally reserved for use by the nobility. Is that why I've never really seen the [Charisma] attribute in the game before? It's an attribute reserved for nobility classes? It made sense. Though I wouldn't normally consider myself a noble by any stretch, my class definitely leaned in that direction.

Regardless, I grabbed the amulet and slipped it over the cloth that encircled my face. It rested around my neck, and just on top of the several layers of fabric, I was currently wearing.

It was under various other parts of the disposed of [Treant] that I discovered the shield and bow.

If I considered the classes, then it was obvious that the shield should go to Kevin, which, considering my thoughts from earlier would be a godsend. Kevin's attribute gains as far as physical characteristics went were already quite high, and would definitely surpass my own when he reached my level. My class was still strong regardless, considering that it was a 'jack-of-all-trades' sort of thing without tanking my ability very much. Plus, comparing Kevin's status to my own would largely be unfair, as his stats are certainly more than double that of any other warrior his level. It was quite insane really. Anyhow, it was clear that Kevin would be playing a much more defensive role in battles, and I'm sure he would appreciate that the next time he is in the process of getting crushed, he will at least have a shield to protect him.

Glancing behind me, I saw Priscilla just standing there, her hands crossed over her chest. She was evidently pouting a bit, and it only took me a moment to realize why; she was still waiting for an explanation. I did, after all, just ignore her after verifying Kevin was okay.

Glancing at the bow, then back to Priscilla, I said, "You're pretty good with a bow, right?"

She raised her eyebrows, "Isn't that obvious dumbass?"

Despite her callous response, I could tell she was prideful of the fact her skills were recognized.

Ignoring her remark, I looked back towards the bow and cast appraisal.

I could immediately see a problem though. Has Priscilla even taken a class?

Turning back to Priscilla I asked her, "Do you know what a [Class] is?" I said matter-in-factly.

To my surprise, she nodded. "Yep! Found out after screaming in the air for a while trying to figure out why the world had gone to shit." She stated. "Apparently if you yell help long enough you'll manage to get an answer at some point." She noted sarcastically while shrugging.

Help? I thought. To my surprise, as I directed my thoughts towards the system, another prompt appeared.

That's... Actually pretty useful. I thought. It made sense though, I doubted very many people would be able to figure out how to say status or any other keyword of system navigation. Apparently though, yelling out 'help' qualified enough to activate the system. It was definitely a more general word, and I was pretty positive there would be a lot of people who cried out 'help' at some point. It saved me a lot of trouble explaining things though.

"Have you already chosen a class then?" I asked her.

"Yep!" she responded. "Whatever the godly thing at work here is, it at least recognized the skills no-one else did. I'm a [Hunter]."

"Oh?" I was surprised actually. It definitely wasn't one of the three basic classes, but the system at work here was definitely a lot different than the game. At least in some aspects. Due to the nature of Holy Arc Online, players mainly were only ever exposed to the basic combat classes. There were, however, some classes that melded combat as well as daily life. However, those were held mainly by NPC's in the game, players typically didn't settle down and try to enjoy a 'slice-of-life' style gameplay. Especially considering the start of the game was so darn difficult.

At this point though, I've already figured I'll be seeing a lot of new things that I've never seen in the game. I've already learned that the game was a very rudimentary guide to our new world. The general concepts applied, but as with anything, reality tended to be a lot more different.

Priscilla was still looking at me, as I had paused mid-thought. So, I continued as I knelt down, and picked up the bow from the ground. "Then I suppose this was meant for you," I said, as I tossed over the bow. She deftly caught it and began to examine it.

"What the hell is this?" She said, surprised. "I've never seen anything like this..." Her voice had shifted into one of awe, as she brushed her fingers along the breadth of the bow's curve.

She then set her current bow down, which, as I got a look at it, appeared to be a simple composite bow. While her bow was definitely much better than the one I had given to given, I suspected that this new one was in a completely different category. The material was made to withstand a Tier 1 [Archer], which meant that it had to withstand the pull force of individuals over a dozen times stronger than your average person.

I smirked, "I'm assuming you like it then?"

"Like it?" She asked incredulously, as she tested the pull force by pulling it back. "After gaining a few levels I was starting to get worried since I couldn't use my bow like I used to. This one though? I've never felt anything like it, even back when my old man took me to an archery show."

"Well, it's yours then," I said. "Each of us got an item out of it. You got a bow, Kevin's got that shield over there," I mentioned while pointing, "And I've got this amulet."

"So, I get the fanciest bow in the world, your friend gets a big ass shield, and you get a shitty necklace?" She said in disbelief. "Now that's some terrible luck."

I frowned, "It's enchanted. If you're familiar with your attributes already, then I'm sure you'll appreciate it more when I tell you that the amulet actually gives me some attribute buffs while enhancing my magic. So, even if it looks crappy, it's quite a bit better than just that."

Now she looked curious, but she just shook her head, "Suit yourself then!" after which she looked behind me. So... What do we do now?"

"What do you mean we?" I responded.

"Well... If it ain't already obvious... I don't exactly have anywhere to go, and I assume the two of you have to be staying somewhere, right?" She said as she put her hands on her hips.

I gaped in disbelief, "you'd just up and come with two strange guys, who you've barely met mind you, to who knows where?"

"What?" she said, "I'm not afraid of two wimpy dudes. I can handle myself plenty fine."

Oh God, I thought. She's gonna be a handful, won't she? At the very least she's good with a bow... And frankly, I wouldn't be one to complain about an extra body behind my back when the invasion begins.

"Fine then," I said, "You can join the community. We aren't ones to turn away survivors anyways, plus... I'm sure we could use your help anyhow." I finished, glancing towards the wood with a grin.

Her shoulders dropped, "I am soooo not going to be your pack mule. Do it your damn self." Then she paused, "W-Wait... What do you mean survivors?"

I frowned, "I'll tell you while I'm picking up the wood."

And so, despite her initial response, she actually ended up helping gather the wood. So, in return, I told her what happened on the outside.

She took the news better than I thought, but it was obvious it was still pretty hard on her. The likelihood of her family still being alive was pretty slim. I felt for her though, I was worried sick for my own when everything began going downhill, but at least I had the foreknowledge and was able to warn them... For her? She's been stuck without contact with the outside world for several days.

She told me that she had collapsed while out hunting and that shortly thereafter had noticed that the animals in the forest had suddenly started acting strange. They had begun to mutate and animals that had been skittish and peaceful before were now aggressive. She explained how she had seen a two-headed deer literally gouge out a wolf, it was only by a stroke of luck she had managed to impale it with an arrow before it turned on her.

It was a harrowing story, but one that I wasn't too surprised at. Right now, going solo surely meant death, and I was certain she knew that too. Despite her attempts to escape her small segment of the forest, she mentioned her instincts had told her it would be much worse out there. After all, the forest was where she felt at home, and so she had made the safer bet and stayed.

Which was how Priscilla spent the last few days until she saw us fighting the [Treant]. She had been scoping the wooden guardian out ever since she saw it appear two days ago. She had stayed nearby because the other monsters in the forest tended to stay away from the area.

My explanation of the events outside helped quell her curiosity, and I could tell her attitude had definitely mellowed a bit after that, but, that's just how things were nowadays. Despite the situation now weighing on her, she bore it well.