14 Close and yet so far

Two disguised elves were walking down a dirt path. They had no idea where they were headed.

"Rias, why do you want to find a cure so badly? I know you're curious about everything, but this is the first time I have seen you work so hard like that." Asked Radix.

"To be fair, this is the first time we've hanged out. And we never talk to each other in the village. So you don't know much about me, and I don't know much about you either."

"I guess you have a point. Wait."

Radix stopped suddenly. He heard faint whispers coming from the trees.

"What?" Asked Rias.

"Ssh."

Radix touched a nearby tree. He listened closely to the trees that were calling out to him. Multiple voices kept echoing in his mind.

'Danger' 'danger' 'danger'

'Behind you.'

He knew what that meant. Radix grabbed his bow and aimed it behind him. In the distance, he saw 2 figures coming towards them.

The two figures were covered in black cloaks. One of them was tall and very buffed. The other was short with a giant hunch on his back.

Without giving them a chance, Radix shot 3 arrows at them at once,

2 of the arrows were going at the tall guy, but one of them headed right for the hunched man.

But all of his arrows hit an invisible shield that surrounded those two individuals.

"Ah, yes, I recognize this smell, those two are elves without a doubt."

"Elves? I didn't expect that. But it doesn't change that fact that we have to kill them."

The buffed man reached out to his back and pulled out a double-barreled shotgun.

Radix kept hearing the trees calling out to him.

'RUN AWAY!' they all said.

"RUN!" Radix said, and both elves begin running at full speed. There was a reason why the forest kept telling him to run, and he absolutely believes in the forest. Rias also began running towards without asking questions.

"Smart elves." The buffed man aimed the double-barreled shotgun at them and shot them, it shot out not a bullet, but many more bullets at once.

Each bullet dispersed, but then they started going towards Radix and Rias at a great speed, as if they were homing bullets.

"Lea, I ask you to lend us your power." Radix said while running.

Thick roots sprouted from the ground and blocked each of the bullets.

"Thank you, Lea." Radix said.

But the roots did not stop there. More and more sprouted from the ground beneath the two cloaked individuals.

"Elf magic. Nothing I can't handle."

The buffed man took out a blade from out of the air, it looked like a long scimitar with a golden handle. He cut through the roots easily as if they were made out of butter.

But not only did he cut the roots, it even managed to cut down several thick trees meters away from him. It seemed as if that blade could cut down objects easily and that are far out of its range capacity.

The roots that weren't cut began retreating back into the ground.

The two cloaked individuals looked at thick trees where the elves ran. They didn't bother to give chase.

"It seems like their goddess 'Lea' is protecting them. It would be suicide to follow them in the forest. But still, I should at least take a shot."

The hunched man produced a gun out of nowhere, but not just any gun, it is a sniper rifle with an exaggerated long barrel.

Despite the size between the man and the weapon, it did not seem like he had any trouble carrying the sniper with only one hand, as if the gun weighed almost nothing.

He looked through the scope that was enchanted, it was the only part of the weapon that was enchanted. Through the scope he saw one of the elves.

He smiled and said, "got you."

He squeezed the trigger and a loud bang echoed through the forest, the gun was so powerful that air was produced out of it and it flung off the hoodie from his head. It revealed the face of an old, bald, white man, with several scars on his face from who knows what.

The sound travelled so far that even the elves thought that the noise came right behind them.

But before they could have a chance to react, a small root sprouted from the ground and tripped the elves. The bullet merely grazed through Rias's hair. Had the roots been half a second late, Rias would have died on the spot.

"Stay down." Radix held Rias on the ground. They were covered by thick woods, which means it is impossible for the sniper to tell where they were. As long as they stood behind some coverage, they should be safe.

"That… that bullet… it went over my-" Rias was shocked, and scared, and finally afraid for her life. She was that close to dying. Her body started to tremble from that very thought.

Radix touched the ground with his hand, and made more roots sprout from the ground everywhere near them. It took more energy to produce more roots, but it was worth it. This is so he could confuse the enemy by making it seem that roots were sprouting in places where they were not there.

"Tsk, they got lucky."

They both started to step back away from the forest.

"I hate the forest. It's suicide if we go there, even if we had shorty with us and with the magical weapons the Empress gifted us, we will still die."

"I know. This forest kills everyone that isn't a part of it, especially humans. If it weren't for the forest, then the elven race would have gone extinct a long time ago."

"What do we tell the Empress?"

"Well it didn't seem like they were infected, so that's good. But they both know about the zombies, but I believe that they don't know much about our motives or the fact that we made the virus, so that's good. And they probably won't even tell any humans since they hate each other. I guess we should tell her that the mission was a success."

"Or else it'll be our heads."

"Tell Shorty that we'll meet him at the usual spot."

"Sure, whatever." The hunched man took out a smooth, white stone from his pocket. The stone was in the shape of a rectangle, each of its sides were smooth.

The hunched man took out a needle, poked his finger with it, and used his own blood to write words in the face of the stone.

'Meet us at the usual spot before sundown.' he wrote.

The bloody letters disappeared as if the stone had absorbed the blood.

Clement, who was riding on the horse with the Princess, saw that something in his pocket glowed. He took it out, and it was a white stone similar to the one that Hunch had.

He took this stone after killing Shorty. Clement knew what it was which is why he took it.

Words in black appeared on the stone.

"Usual place? Where is that supposed to be?" He had no idea where that place was. And if he asked where the usual place is, then the other side would most likely find out that something happened to Shorty, and it'll cause trouble for him.

The words from his stone disappeared without a trace.

He kept the stone in his pocket in case he might need it again.

"Why did you use your blood to write Shorty?" The buffed man asked.

"I forgot to carry ink."

"You could have just asked me. I have some."

"You know what? That is actually a very good point."

They began walking towards the usual spot.

Even if Hunch had used his sniper rifle from the beginning to shoot the elves, it wouldn't have made a difference, as the forest would have intervened and saved both of the elves' lives.

They decided that chasing the elves wasn't worth the trouble. If they were anywhere else that wasn't the forest, they would kill them without a second thought, but going through the forest would mean that they would die.

In this world at least half of it was covered in land, and the other half was covered in water.

30% of all land was covered in thick forests, the other 20% was being occupied by mountains, human civilizations, and so on.

But the entire forest where the elves live is called 'Lea's forest' is not safe for humans or monsters to go in, it is said that it is protected by the Goddess of the planet who is named 'Lea' she protects the world especially her children, who are the elves.

Many who have tried venturing into the deep woods of Lea's forest, most of them have met their ends there.

Those who have bad intentions to venture in the forest are to be sucked into the earth, and will never come out again.

Those who venture with no clue or no intentions to injure the forest or its people, will find themselves being guided by many spirits to the exit of the forest.

It seems that the forest treats the people differently depending on their intentions, as if it could read their thoughts.

This is the reason why those two cloaked individuals did not want to chase the elves through the forest, because their intention was to kill the elves, and that meant that the forest regarded them as an enemy. They had no weapon to guard them against the forest.

Radix noticed that both of the cloaked individuals were now gone. He sighed in relief.

"That was too close." Radix could finally relax.

Rias did not talk. She was scared and trembling non-stop..

"Is this your first time being so close to death?"

She nodded while trembling.

"Yeah, it sucks at first, and you never get used to it. The best you can do is not let it bother you as much."

They both lied there on the soft grass.

But this moment only fueled his hatred towards humans. But they were too powerful as they had magical items, where he only had 1 enchanted bow and enchanted arrows.

Rias also has a magical item, but it is only used as an inventory meant to carry stuff easier. This item is useful, but not for combat.

This made him think of how Arbor and Grace were doing with the Adalis problem.

Meanwhile…

Grace, Arbor, and July were still running through the dirt path. At the rate they're going, it'll take days before they could arrive at the village where they believe that the Adalis was taken.

July only had one thing on her mind, and that it to get to her son as soon as possible. It didn't matter if the elves behind her were tired, or if she was hungry. All that mattered was her son's safety.

Meanwhile…

"I am sure that this is the potion. Give it a try."

"That's what you said last time!" Will was currently lying on the ground unable to move.

The little girl kept shoving many strange pills into Will's mouth.

The reason why Will didn't just avoid her or run away, is because he is currently paralyzed.

Will was once again caught off-guard when she shoved another pill into his mouth, but what she thought she was giving him a health potion, it ended up being a pill that paralyzed humans from the neck down.

Realizing that she made a mistake, she started to feed him several more pills in order to cure his temporary paralysis, but kept feeding him the wrong pills over and over again.

{HP 75/50}

{Debuff: Paralyzed 3:12}

{Debuff: weakness 4:31}

{Debuff: Erectile dysfunction 23:59:58}

{Debuff:...}

Apart from the debuffs, he got a 20+ health above his limit, which meant that it wasn't all bad. However, that 'erectile dysfunction' made him shiver in fear. It was 24 hours without being able to fap, not that he's done ever since he got here, because there is no porn in this world, only whorehouses and brothels, but they're expensive to enter.

But, what if she had fed him a pill that lasted for many years? That would be terrifying yet somehow amazing at the same time.

"Ah, I got it. It's this green potion. This potion will cure your condition!" She said while holding a blue pill.

"That's not green. It's blue."

"Oh thank god you told me. This blue potion is very poisonous and could kill you. Is this green?" She showed him a red pill.

"Are you colour blind?" Asked Will.

"Yeah, I am. I can only see black, and white, and grey." She felt sad when Will mentioned her colour blindness.

"Just please, do not feed me any more pills. I will be fine in a couple of minutes. Just don't feed me any more pills." Will said. Whenever he tried telling her to do something, she ignored him and kept feeding him more pills.

It wasn't because she was ignoring him, but extremely nervous and scared because she had poisoned someone by accident. Her actions could land her in jail.

She tried giving him some samples of the awesome effects of the potions, like a potion that makes him stronger,but she gave him the wrong one, when she was sure that she fed him a potion that would benefit him.

Looking at his paralyzing debuff, he only needed to wait out 3 minutes before it disappeared.

"Maybe I can find that green potion. Where is it?" She said as she rummaged through the back for pills, but she couldn't find anything.

"I should really start labelling these things."

"Adaline, a little help." Will said. If he were to stay here for a while longer, then he would die by either poison or something far worse.

He came here to learn how to craft potions, but with this crazy and irresponsible girl in the way, it seems that today isn't the day.

Green roots coiled around Will's body and slowly dragged him to the exit.

"I found it. I think this is the potion… where did you go? Or was he never there? Hm..."

Will let out a breath. Good thing Adaline was here for him.

"Thanks, girl."

"Hisss!" She started to rub her head on his chest.

After a few minutes had passed, he could finally move again.

He thought that he could find another potion shop in the kingdom, it would be weird if it had only one potion shop when the kingdom was as big as Disneyland.

And he was right, after strolling throughout the kingdom, he found another potion shop.

Will smacked his own head. Did that mean that there was another blacksmith shop around here, where one didn't have a drugged judge?

But he's not complaining. In the end he got what he came here for.

"Now that I am here, I need to know how to make potions. Those might be very vital for me in the future."

In order for him to craft potions, he needs to touch the potion table or whatever it's called.

He wanted to enter the shop, but there was a sign outside with bold words that read 'closed'

"Dammit!"

But he noticed another sign with smaller letters in it.

'Dear fucking, cheap, fat, ugly, greedy, short, boss. I am tired of putting up with your crap after all these years. While you're in vacation with your family for the 50th fucking time, I have been working my ass off for the shop, but not anymore. The hours are long, the pay is low, I am in debt. I haven't received a raise, or a vacation once. I was your best and only potion-maker and you never valued me. All your employees have left, now you have no one else to run a shop, and no one else would be stupid enough to work for you because of your reputation. I threw out all of your garbage in the goddamn trash. I hope you get raped by some orcs on the way you cheap fuck!

Sincerely, Joe.

P.S. I screwed your wife.

P.S.S Your 3 year old son isn't actually yours, and he's not mine either. He could be anybody's.

P.S.S.S. You suck.'

",,,:

Will had no idea how to react to that sign.

But he noticed that there was a trash can beside the store. Upon a closer look, there were several potions, and even what looked like a potion-maker table.

Ignoring the trash in it, which was mostly just banana peels, rotten meat, he touched the potion-maker stand.

And sure enough, he got a new crafting recipe.

{Metal trash can}

{It is used to store trash in it}

"..." Will.

{Potion-maker stand}

{Used to craft various potions}

That wasn't all that happened. On his book, a new section was added, potions.

At the beginning, he had his crafting recipe, which held weapons, building materials, tools, and also a bestiary.

And now, he has a potion section that is obviously used to craft and unlock new potion recipes.

Looking at the potion section, he had already unlocked several potions.

{Low health potion}

{50+ health upon consuming}

{Temporary low HP potion}

{Temporarily raises your HP by 20 points beyond the limit. Can only be consumed once until you lose your 20 HP}

{Erectile dysfunction potion}

{You will have E.D. for 24 hours per consumption}

{Paralysis potion}

{Paralyzes you for 10 minutes per consumption}

{Blindness potion}

{Leaves you blind for 10 minutes per consumption}

Apart from the HP potions, the rest were terrible to him. Who would buy these potions? Especially the one that gives you E.D. It is every man's worst nightmare.

"Neat."

He also took the potion-maker stand 'cause why not? It'll spare him the trouble of having to craft or buy one. Although this is unexpected, he not only got his blacksmith badge, but also a stand to craft potions. Now all he needs is the materials to craft said potions.

A young woman could be seen walking by the side where Will was. She saw him going through the thrash. She reached for her purse and walked straight to Will.

"Here, buy yourself some food. You poor thing."

She handed him a silver coin and left. In her eyes, Will hasn't had anything to eat so he's scouring through the trash to get something to eat.

"... thanks."

He would have returned the money to her, but didn't. It's his money now. And he didn't steal it, it was given to him. He was running out of coins, and he needed it. In most games, and even in real life, having enough coins is crucial to one's survival.

"The heroes look amazing! Don't they?!"

"They sure do."

"I'm just so glad that I took this photo from the moment they were summoned."

From across the building there were two boys chatting as they exited the building. They were both holding pictures in their hands and talking about the heroes.

This got Will's attention.

"Hey, wait a minute." Will walked towards the kids.

"Ya?"

Two of the boys stood and looked at Will.

"Is that a picture of the new heroes?"

"Yes, it is."

"Can I buy it from you?" Will handed them the silver coin that the lady gave him.

The kids' eyes shined. This is like a mass fortune to them.

"Deal. Good thing I printed more before we left the building." The kid took out more photos from his pockets, and only gave one to Will.

Will examined the photo.

It was a picture taken more than a week ago. There was a crowd of people surrounding the area where the summoning circle was. The entire crowd was displaying different emotions towards the heroes, some were yelling to get their attention, others cried, and some were standing over people's heads to get a better view of them. The photo that was taken was taken by standing on someone else.

There was also a man, fairly tall, chubby, and old. His beard was thick, white, and it reached his belly button area. He wore golden loose robes, and a golden crown embedded with jewels like; sapphire, ruby, diamond, emerald, silver, all the size of a thumb.

Will's eyes grew wide. As he expected, most of the 'heroes' that were summoned were very familiar to him, as they were all classmates from the same school.

In the far end, was his ex-girlfriend, Cassandra.

Her looks were ordinary. She was average in height. Her hair was short and red. Her eyes were brown. She was slender, and has nice legs. She was usually full of life and energy, and it made everyone around her like her. But in the picture she was confused and scared, as anyone would be in her situation.

The heroes all looked nervous, shy, unsure of what was happening. One minute they're minding their own business, and the next they're being praised and watched by hundreds of people.

One of them was in the middle of showering, and he was buck naked. Someone gave him some robes to cover his private areas.

"I take a good picture, right? Mom says I can be a photographer when I grow up."

"And I will be a slave trader. Whatever that means." the other boy added.

"What can you two tell me about the heroes up till now?" Will took out another silver coin and placed it gently on the kid's palm.

"Yes, um, there were 99 heroes who were summoned. Nobody knows who the 100th hero is, as he was never summoned for some reason. The heroes are currently training right now to hone their powers inside the kingdom, they are all being trained directly from the century hero, Shaun Quincy."

"What about her? Can you tell me anything about her?" Will pointed at his ex.

"I don't know much about that hero. We only know their faces. Other than that we don't know yet."

"When will they come out of their training?"

"Um, hmmm… I think it depends on the hero. Some of them don't make it all the way. And there are other heroes in the past who have no trouble in their training."

Will scratched his chin and went in deep thought.

"Why do you think that the 100th hero didn't show up? That has never happened before." The other kid asked.

"I don't know. Mom says that maybe it was meant to be, like fate, whatever that means."

"Fate, huh? Thanks." WIll took Adaline with him and left. There was no reason to stay here. He already achieved his purpose and got more out of it than he thought.

Now, he must leave the kingdom, and make his own base. At least this kingdom gave him some new ideas on what to build.

Will kept looking at the picture, mostly focusing on his ex, Right now a wave of emotions were circling in his mind.

Should he wait? Should he leave? Should he at least try to talk to her? What should he do?

"OMG WILL! GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!"

Jack jumped on Will like a flying monkey.

"I saw a hero from the window. It was only for a split second, but I saw a hero with red hair."

"Red hair? You mean her." Will took out a picture and showed it to Jack.

"This is her! No way! You have a picture of all the heroes in one spot!" Jack's eyes glowed almost as white as Herobrine's eyes.

Will looked at the palace. She was definitely there. All he had to do was go there, introduce himself as the 100th hero, and he will be with her.

But, that thought was immediately tossed out the window.

"Let's go, Adaline."

"Where are you going?" Asked Jack.

"I'm leaving to build my own base. Want me to give you a lift or something?"

"But why? We just got here. And you still haven't received your blacksmith badge yet."

Will took out his apprentice blacksmith badge.

"That was quick!"

"I also gave you your badge back. You didn't notice because you were too busy with your little sightseeing."

Jack took out the badge from his pocket, and it had a little golden star attached to it.

"Finally! I am one step closer to becoming an expert! Thanks, Will."

"No problem. Do you want a ride or do you want to stay?"

"Are you not planning on staying in this kingdom for a little while longer?"

"No. I should have never come here. It's too risky for me."

"I uh…" Jack was feeling conflicted at the moment. He wanted to go with Will, but this is the first time that he's in this kingdom, and there were so many heroes out there that he wanted to meet.

But Will is not only a hero, but also his friend.

"I don't want to force you to come with me Jack. Here, this is enough to get you back home, or atleast to your uncle's village." Will gave Jack 10 silver pieces.

"No, I cannot take this. This is too much."

"Take it. I can make more money later. Now that I have a blacksmith badge I shouldn't worry about making money for the time being."

What he didn't tell Jack is that he could also make potions, but he needs to gather some ingredients to make more potions and unlock more recipes.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked.

"I'm sure."

"I love you, Will." Jack hugged Will tightly.

Someone who was nearby laughed at them and said. "HA! GAAAEEEEYYY!"

"Okay, Jack, we're only friends." Will nudged Jack away.

"I know. So I guess this is goodbye."

"See ya, Jack."

Will took Adaline with him and left the kingdom of Reyes. This is something that was going to happen.

Jack looked at Will's figure leaving. As much as he wanted to go, he had to go back to his family to tell them that he was okay. After the black sun, his mother and grandmother must be worried about him.

Will took a copy of the map while he was in the kingdom. It was a copy of the land.

There were approximately 192 villages in this world, 1 kingdom, and one empire.

49 of the villages were under the protection of the kingdom of Reyes, it included Jack's and Sam's village.

112 of the villages were under the protection of the fat Empress. They were larger and more advanced than any of the villages that were under the protection of the Reyes kingdom.

And 28 of the villages were neutral, or independent as some might call them. That leaves only 3 villages, and these last three caught Will's attention.

A few years ago, some of these villages were abandoned due to various reasons. Nobody else lived there because of constant monster attacks, it took too long to transport goods and trade with other villages, or simply because nothing would grow there, no trees, plants, crops, nothing.

Since nobody wanted to waste their money on those lands, then it was up for grabs, and Will was going to take it. He decided that those abandoned lands were going to be his new home.

It was pretty far away, at least 2 weeks away from the kingdom of Reyes, and 3 weeks away from Jack's village. Even if Adaline ran non-stop, it would take days to reach those abandoned villages.

Luckily for him, he stocked up on food while he was in the kingdom, and had enough goblin parts to feed Adaline. He is literally broke now. He gave all his money to Jack who needed it to go back to his village.

There was a reason why Will was out here, and not in there with the other heroes. Even though he wants to see his ex, right now wasn't the time.

He doesn't know what or who, but for some reason, they wanted Will to have a different path than the other heroes. He never believed in fate, or even god, but believed that things happen for a reason. It might not always turn out the way you want it, it might bring you pain, grieve, anger, but that's life. You can only learn to live with it.

Meanwhile…

A young girl was staring outside the window. She looked at the amazing scenery, but her mind was elsewhere.

"Sandra, what are you doing?" A young male asked. For some reason, he was shirtless but extremely ripped.

"Nothing, Bruce. Just wondering."

Her name is 'Cassandra' but people call her 'Sandra' because it is a shorter version of her name.

"Are you still thinking about Will? He's back in his world, probably scared because you disappeared or something. But he's probably fine."

"I know he is. I just… nevermind." She left the area and entered her room.

Bruce felt sad for her. He could tell that she loved Will very much, But they are both in different worlds, with no chance of contacting each other.

Cassandra laid down on her bed and looked at the roof of her room.

"I wish I could see you one more time, and tell you that I am okay." She reached her hand out and gripped the air.

"I miss mom and dad… but I also miss you."

She was very worried about Will for a very good reason.

Many years ago, Will had lost a good friend named Alexander Anderson, she also knew him but his death affected Will greatly.

Will changed completely after that. He wouldn't talk to anyone. He wouldn't eat or leave his bed. Not even playing video games brought him joy.

It was around the time that they were still dating. She went to check on him to help him in any way she could.

But that is when she found out that the reason he was suffering is because Will was the reason why Alex died. He was the one who sent Alex to his death.

And now that she's gone, she believes that Will was depressed because she disappeared. After all, if something like that had happened to Will, she too would feel awfully depressed.

She could only hope that Will was doing fine, and hoped that her sudden disappearance wouldn't affect him too much.