A horde of slimes hops towards us. There are around 30 in total separated through the group. The front of the horde is made up of 5 slimes, but many more lay behind them. Our formation will no longer be effective in such a situation—not that it was much of one to begin with.

“We need to get closer, so we can cover each other,” I say through the party rings.

“What if they pass us on the sides?” questions Silky.

“Then both of you will focus on preventing that while I’ll cover you,” Ash says, understanding my idea.

“...” An instant of silence passes as we each ponder the ups and downs of such a method.

“We can just call cover if we have to shift our focus to prevent flanking,” I note.

“Yeah, that works,” Silky agrees as she takes a step closer to Ash, allowing for them both to cover for each other.

“Then it’s agreed,” Ash says as she takes a step back, so she’s only a step ahead of us.

“And they're getting closer,” I remind while finishing my step towards Ash.

By the time we have repositioned, the slimes are 10 feet from us—five strides. The first 5 are evenly distributed, allowing Ash to strike the 3 in the middle, and for Silkey and I to cover our own as well as one of the middle ones.

The slimes approach a foot at a time, slow but inevitable. Each of us gets into our first stance, prepared to strike. The first slime enters Ash’s range as she lunges to strike *Pop*. She retreats to her original stance, stabilizes, and stabs the slime to her left once it enters her normal range. At the same time, I lunge for the slime to her right *pu-shloop* *crack* and quickly retreat to my original position. Next Silky strikes at her slime as I go for my next one *shloop* *crack*.

We both return to a defensive stan—*pop*— Ash takes out the first of the next layer of slimes in a lunge. This time she proceeds to take out one on the right, yet there is another one, further right, that will attack her. I lunge *pop* step back, strike ahead *pu-shloop* *crack* establish my fou— *pu-shloop* *crack*—dation and take one out to my right.

‘Those sounds are getting really distracting,’ I think, now ignoring the sounds of the others’ attacks to focus on the slimes ahead. Another 4 are ahead of me. Leaving the furthest left for Ash, I lunge to the right of it *pop* retreat, plant foot, breath, strike *pu-shloop* *crack* pull my spear ba— I strike *pop* — I recover my stance, and breathe. I look forward, ‘6 I can strike, and 4 I need to, plus I have the most.’ I leave the left 2 for Ash, taking the two closely packed ranks of 2 slimes for myself. Half-lunge *pop* retreat, plant, strike *pu-shloop* *crack* stance, strike  *shloop* *crack* I pull— strike *pop* I re-establish my stance, breathe, and look to see how the other two are.

Ash and Silky have also killed all the slimes in front of them, and they are breathing hard, as I am. ‘That was close,’ I note, ‘that last one was but a hop from my foot, and if fantasy books taught me anything, these buggers are acidic.’ as that thought crosses my mind, I notice a warmth on the back of my right hand. I look over to see goo on— “Ahh!” I scream, panicking.

I hop in circles, waving my hand around and yelling, “Get it off! Get it off!” completely panicked. Only once my frantic movements cause the goo to fly off into the forest do I realize something… ‘It… it didn’t hurt… like… it only felt mildly warm…’ and the warmth suddenly spreads to my cheeks.

Ash comes running over and says, “Are you okay?! Do you need water? What can I do?” At the same time, she looks over me—as though she can see anything through the fog that covers us—trying to find any spots of injury.

Heat rushing to my cheeks and ears burning, I say, “No no, I’m fine, I— I’m good. You…” trying and failing to come up with a way to get her to leave. Ash continues her inspection, looking over my condition, until she suddenly stops.

“Why are you going… red?” she asks, completely befuddled.

“I- It- The… There was a goo, on my hand… I thought it would hurt… it, didn’t” I manage to get out through the blazing heat.

“Wait… So you’re saying that whole freakout, was because you thought the slime would hurt your hand… Wow!” Ash comments in amazement.

*giggle* Silky contributes.

“...”

“So… did we get enough for the quest?” I ask, trying to redirect their attention.

Ash looks at me, holding my gaze for a second, before looking over at the slime corpses to count. “2,4,6,8,10,12,13 and 2,4,6,8,10,11” Ash mumbles to herself before she says, “There are 13 partials and 11 complete slimes. We have more than enough.”

Satisfied but with nothing to add, Silky and I both start collecting the slime goo as Ash moves to join us. We fill all 10 bottles, starting with the partials, leaving us with 5 complete slimes. We look between each other, shrug, and store the complete corpses as well.

We stand up, wave our hands, and turn back to whence we came, ready to complete the quest. On the way, Ash comments, “You know, if the slimes were as harmless as they seem, then we were acting way too scared of them.”

“Yeah, though it does cause me to wonder, why the spear in the first place? It’s built for keeping your distance. Why not get up and personal, wack them hard enough to crack the core, and be done with it?” Silky ponders aloud.

“Hmm… do you think that the instructor thought we’d go on a harder quest? Like I bet that the spear would be real important with the horned rabbits.” I suggest.

“I guess, but why would he think that? You need to have completed 10 quests to even take that, and he only said for us to do one?” Ash counters.

“Maybe he doesn’t consider this a real quest. I mean, look at how easy it really was. If we weren’t so caught up in the moment, we could have jogged away at any moment. Even if we failed, it seems like it would take a while for the slimes to do any damage. This feels more like a tutorial quest than a real quest for Adventures,” I postulate.

“Are you suggesting that he wants us to do the horned rabbit quest to come back?” Silky asks, alarmed.

“I’d say it’s a distinct possibility.”

“...”

“Well, it seems like a lot more slimes just got added to the chopping block,” Ash says into the silence.

“What about LionsBlaze?” I ask.

“Well, this quest didn’t take too long, so we can probably do a few more before he’s done. And we can confirm when we're back whether each party member needs to have completed the quest 10 times or the party as a whole needs to,” Ash explains.

“I suppose that makes sense,” I respond.

“Sounds like a plan,” Silky agrees.

With that, we continue to discuss details as we journey back to the guild to turn in the quest. At the guild, the receptionist is confused by the extra slimes—asking us why we didn’t leave after filling up the quest requirement—but agrees to give us an additional copper for the remaining slimes. 

“For the half-silver quest, it is noted that you have to complete 10 quests to be eligible. Is that individually or as a party?” Ash asks.

“That would be on an individual basis. The quests earn you the merit to be considered for a rank-up, and the half-silver proves your ability. One without the other is meaningless. That doesn’t mean that you can’t do those ten quests as a party, just that each member must have actually participated in 10 separate quests.”

“I see, thank you,” Ash says as we turn from the attendant. 

We go to the board, find another slime quest, approve it with the attendant, and begin the grind.

Tablet in hand, we go to Silky’s portal room instead—it’s closer—and enter the quest realm, open plains of endless grass. We travel around, quickly finding some more slimes. This time, we use the experience more for practice than for the quest. We practice individually at first—spreading around the group of around 40 slimes, and moving in at the same time—training our individual prowess. I strike, stab, and thrust, moving through the slime ranks. I try to keep myself from harm, but I take risky moves to stretch my skill, allowing some attacks through. I lunge, retreat, and sidestep. I switch to first guard to strike a slime out of the air mid-hop—I miss. I try to shorten the time between strikes in my combat stance, attempting to hit two slimes before they can hop. I try to reduce the number of pops, bringing more and more attacks into partial pops instead. I strike with greater and greater focus, tightening my precision. I reign in my power and placement, finally ending the sound of pops coming from my side of the slime group. 

Shortly after, the field is cleared of slimes, each of us panting. The area around us is filled with the corpses of slimes, many popped or torn. It has taken us nearly 20 minutes to clear the field due to the constant hit-and-run tactics we had to utilize to focus on skill growth.

The lack of focus is a significant issue. It drastically reduced our potential gains, limiting us to only partial progress in many areas rather than any significant progress in an important one. ‘We need to figure out the most important thing two work on, focus on it, and bring it to the level we need to complete the horned rabbit quest. Else we’ll never be ready in time.’

“So… I’m thinking we need to Brainstorm a little here. What do we need to learn to give us better odds with the Horned rabbits? Is it speed, accuracy, precision, footwork, retreating, or teamwork? We can’t work on all of them—we may not even be able to work on 2. What do we need to win?”

“Seems like a great question for the attendant at the guild,” Silky notes.

“So it does,” Ash agrees.

With that in mind, we make for the guild after collecting our loot. The journey is short, only allowing some minor discussion on possible points of why certain skills are more critical. By the time we are at the guild, we’ve largely narrowed it down to precision—actually hitting the darn things, footwork—ability to not be skewered, and teamwork—so we don’t poke each other instead of the rabbits.

We turn in the quest—the attendant again giving us some extra copper—and we pose the question.

“Well, I can’t tell you what you need, but I can give you an extended description of the quest. Does that work for you?”

“That will work nicely,” Ash says.

“Good. The horned rabbit is a fast creature, but not necessarily very agile. It can make aggressive and powerful charges, but they have a limited ability to turn. Generally, after a charge, they will simply hop around as they recover the stamina to repeat the charge. They can still dodge and strike, but they are drastically less dangerous. They generally live in groups of 5 in a burrow, but you can find groups of burrows that can hold dozens of horned rabbits in total. Lastly, the quest only requires a corpse, mainly the horn, beyond which any damage or missing parts are unimportant. The purpose of the quest is to show ability, not material. With that said, there is a bonus for a more intact corpse. I hope that helps.”

The attendant smiles, happy with her concise description of the quest. She looks over to us, waiting for our appreciation of her explanation.

“Yes, that is very helpful. I’m sure it will be instrumental in our preparation for the quest,” I say, allowing an even broader smile to stretch across her face.

Information in hand, we grab the next slime quest and walk back to Silky’s door. Along the way, we discuss the findings we’ve gained from the attendant.

“So I’d say that our previous conclusions were broadly on the right track,” Ash comments.

“Indeed, it seems that dodging, essentially footwork, will be of great importance,” Silky says.

“True, though precision and teamwork will still be important. I think this has become a question of priorities,” I add.

At this, we pause the conversation and ponder. We continue to walk, each of us absorbed in our thoughts, weighing the importance of each skill against the description given by the attendant. Eventually, Silky breaks the silence.

“I think the most important is clearly footwork. None of the other skills matter if we’re skewered before we have the chance to use them.”

At this, Ash and I nod, pondering the remaining options. We reach the mouth

of the tunnel, still in silence, when I finally consolidate my opinion on the final two skills.

“I think teamwork outweighs precision, if only just. I think that with teamwork, we can get more people around a rabbit after a charge, making it harder to dodge, helping our chances of getting it.”

At this they both nod, following along and waiting for me to finish my argument.

“Precision has its value, and I think it’s important. But the fact that she noted that they can still dodge after a charge means that even if we aim correctly, we will still miss some times. However, even if we strike wide when focusing on teamwork, the rabbit will still have to dodge as it won’t know we missed, meaning the rest of us still benefit from the strike.”

More nods follow as they ponder my argument. We continue to walk, reaching Silky’s door, and making our way to the quest portal. We find ourselves in a hilly plain. After a minute of walking, Ash makes her conclusion.

“Makes sense. I think that a focus primarily on footwork, with an emphasis on dodging, while keeping in a team and working together. We will train our precision naturally as we work, but we will not actively take time from the others to focus on it. Sound good?”

I nod after a second—she had just agreed with my sentiment after all—but Silky follows after half a minute with a nod as well. With that, we continue our search, finding the slimes quickly. We move in as a group—taking the same triangle formation—but with a focus on our footwork, maximizing our efforts.

Some moves are overambitious, some are too small or conservative, and some are just right. We work on moving around the slimes attacking us, finding more ideal positions to continue the assault, while also positioning to help our teammates fend off their attackers, lightening the load. 

In short order, the slimes are yet again vanquished, and our skills improved. We return to the guild, take a new quest, and return to take out more slimes. 

This time we find better spots more often, cover our allies better, and over/under extend less. We find the beginnings of a rhythm.

Quickly the slimes are again brought to ruin, forcing us to return to the guild to begin again. Silky also asks the attendant's name, revealing it to be Sarah, embarrassing Ash and I for our rudeness.

Nonetheless, the cycle repeats. We annihilate 2 more groups of slimes, making greater strides in our group cohesion each time, before we return to the guild yet again. 

✧     ✧      ✧

Inside, we catch sight of LionsBlaze sitting in a chair in the dining area. There is nothing at his table—he is simply sitting there, his focus off in lands unknown, his finger tracing imaginary doodles in the air.

The knock on his table as Ash sits across from him brings him back to reality. He looks between us rapidly, his mind quickly organizing the information at its disposal.

“Ah, I guess you all have finished your quest?”

“Well… We’ve actually completed 6,” Ash returns.

“Huh… I guess they were a lot easier than we thought.”

He seems more surprised than anything. Not really confused—he was rapidly able to figure out the difference between reality and expectations—but simply surprised at the gap.

“So why the extra quests, then?”

“We thought that Instructor Lenios might not have intended the slime quests when he required the completion of a quest before class,” I reply

He briefly pauses, thinking, before he responds.

“So what do you think he meant?”

“The horned rabbit quest,” Silky responds simply.

He nods, absorbing the information, apparently familiar with the quest.

“Why that one and not the slimes?”

Ash nods as she raises a hand for her response, revealing 2 raised fingers.

“2 main reasons. The first is the simplicity of the slime quest. It was easy enough that it’s not impossible to think that children could do it. The second is that the horned rabbits seem like they may actually be more dangerous, and seem to be the ideal match-up for a spear. The horned rabbits will charge at us with speed, requiring skillful maneuvering to dodge and then attack after they pass. The slimes were slow enough that you could jog over, stab it, and then jog away, completely safe.”

At this, there are more nods from LionsBlaze as he processes. A few seconds pass before he responds.

“I see. Well, it seems that I should do some slime quests to prepare as well. How does the horned rabbit quest work in detail?”

“Well, the quest is a special one. Apparently, it’s a ‘half-silver’ quest—in other words, a rank-up quest—requiring you to have completed 10 copper star quests before you can take it. In the quest, you need to kill 10 horned rabbits and turn in the corpses,” Ash explains.

He nods again, waits, and then responds.

“Well, it seems I have some slimes to kill.”

We nod at this, happy to see he was following along with our decision. Unfortunately, this still holds the issue of how to deal with the fact that we are now 6 quests ahead of him.

“There is an issue though… we are 6 quests ahead of you. We could go along with you, but then we’d be wasting some time, not to mention I wouldn’t mind a break anyway.” I say.

He pauses at this, processing. His hand doodles through the air as he thinks, giving off odd feelings from time to time. Eventually, he nods.

“What do you think about you all attending a crafter class while I catch up? As you mentioned, the slimes are practically harmless, so going alone will be fine. Plus, I can use it to practice some of the magic I learned with Alrick as well.”

At this, we pause. ‘He has a point, I’ve yet to try out crafting, and thus far, the other two disciplines have seemed important for future play in the game. Who’s to say crafting won’t as well,’ I muse. I weigh my options, considering the only other real option of going on ahead without him, or waiting and still doing something productive. It takes us 30-45 minutes for a quest, so it’ll probably take him closer to an hour at best if he’s efficient about it. On the other hand, we were pretty focused on skill training, so he may be significantly faster, though the 20 minutes of travel and discovery are pretty unavoidable. 

Even with that in mind, there is still one issue remaining. I explain to him our conclusions on the different skills needed for the horned rabbits based on the explanation from the receptionist before presenting the issue.

“That's all to say that your solution is nice, but one of the things that we’ve been doing for the past 4 quests is targeting footwork and teamwork as skills to practice in preparation for the horned rabbits. If you go alone, you will only be able to practice footwork.”

A contemplative aura comes from LionsBlaze as he ponders the new point, his finger returning to its doodles. Shortly after, the aura recedes, and his finger slows.

“As you said, I can focus on footwork on my own. Further, I can spend that time on precision and my magic, hopefully enough for me to use it once you're done. Then, once you all join me again, we can work on teamwork on the final 4 quests before taking on the rabbits.”

Again we take our time to consider his explanation.

Quickly, each of us nod at his proposal. Ash is first, causing me to follow not too long after, with Silky coming in a little after me, possibly pressured by being the last one still considering given her ‘casual’ looks between Ash and I every few seconds after we nodded. Once we all agree, LionsBlaze nods back.

“Cool, I’ll go grab a quest, you all turn in yours, and then we’ll part ways for our next task. After I complete my 6 quests, I’ll message you,” He says as he walks off towards the quests.

“Well, I’d say that's our cue. Off we go,” I comment to my companions.

Ash grabs my hand as we all walk back to Silky’s door. When we touch the orb to enter her local access point, the system pings me.

[Please wait for the Hosts permission…]

A few seconds pass…

[Access granted.]

A blinding white light envelopes me, devouring my body, and a blue light captures the ceiling, overpowering it in an instant. Quickly the blue conquer assaults my eyes taking them along with my awareness of the surroundings.

✧     ✧      ✧

The blue retreats from my eyes, revealing the identical landscape of Silky’s local access point, from the endless plains to the 3 orbs. Beside me are Ash and Silky, and in front of me are the orbs. Specifically, I’m in front of the combat orb, Silky the magic orb, and Ash the crafting orb.

Ash hovers her hands over the crafting orb in front of her before waving us toward it.

“Come, my children, gather ‘round my crystal of secrets. I shall tell you your deepest desire and how it may be acquired.”

Shaking my head, I approach the orb and move between Ash and Silky. We each hover our hands above the orb, look up, nod, and touch the orb.

As I have unfortunately come to expect at this point, the characteristic brown light spreads up my arm, through my body, and to the grassy plains at my feet. Intriguingly, I can see as the light does the same to my friends while the sky turns yellow, the neon, and the sun white. The white light of the sun comes for all of us, taking us out in a single instant.

✧     ✧      ✧

The light fades, revealing a classroom similar to Alricks. There are 15 desks, a podium up front, and a teacher's desk to the left. There are only five players in the room, two of them holding eye contact with me for a second when we cross gazes before nodding. The two of them are rather close, so I walk toward them so we can sit together. 

One of them notices this, looks between me and the other figure, nods to themself, and stands up before walking toward the other figure's desk. We meet at the figures desk, myself taking a desk on the left, and the other taking the one to the right. As we sit, the middle one speaks, “So you are Blue and Silky, right?”

“Yup,” “Umm-hmm,” we answer.

“Good. Would have been awkward otherwise.” *giggle*

At this, Silky and I chuckle as well. Once I stop, I notice that the room has filled up to 7 players in the time we’ve waited. 

“Huh… I guess the crafting class is less popular.”

“What makes you say that, Blue?” Ash asks.

“I mean, look at the number of people at the desks. It has probably been a minute at least since we got here, and only 2 more people have arrived. I think it took the same time for Alrick's class to fill completely.”

“Now that you mention it… yeah, it was the same for my magic class,” Silky adds.

“...”

We each look around the class, pondering the discovery. I notice that the teacher is a woman who looks to be in her 70s, yet holding the strength of an athlete in their 20s. She has muscles bulging all over her, clearly visible through the skin-tight leather pants and from beyond the sleeve of her tunic. The muscles aren’t unsightly—they are proportional to her body, clearly displaying her power while still looking human.

Her desk is a strong table, holding many ingots, herbs, and vials on it as well as a hammer and a mortar and pestle. Some of the ingots have an odd shine to them like—

*Ding Dong*

Suddenly a bell rings, pulling my focus from the ingots to the professor. She stands, grabs the hammer, and walks to the podium.

“Hello, I am Velendra. I will teach you the basics of the magical art of crafting. As you may notice, this is not a particularly popular discipline among your group. Let me assure you, crafting is most certainly an essential aspect of living in our world, even if you don’t choose to pursue the crafter's path. Today I will first discuss some Theory, then I’ll teach some of the basics of rituals, and I’ll finish off with your next steps.”

“With that said, let me first tell you about runes…”