chapter 4: dawn of an alliance

Alex turned to see another player standing casually next to him. The player was of average height, wore a ragged cloak, and had a White, featureless mask on his face.

The player was currently watching the horrific scene with an air of calmness, as if this was a regular occurrence.

"Was the old man trying to get me killed?" The player spoke quickly in a thick, deep, French accent.

After pondering for a bit, the player, the player turned to Alex.

"So, you got any ideas to get through that God forsaken forest?"

After looking around in a slightly confused manner, Alex realized the other player was talking to him.

"Why are you asking me?" Alex asked in a quizzical tone.

"We are in the same boat, as you English would put it, no harm in a second opinion eh"

"Honestly I'm new to this game, so I'm not all that clued into the best choices to make but I guess I could still come up with something" while he talked, Alex remembered something and brought out a metal key ring from his inventory, "while we figure something out, we can use this to eliminate the risk of getting surprise attacked by one of those beasts"

"Works for me" the other player said, shrugging.

As Alex grasped the empty ring, a screen flashed Infront of him.

[You have activated 'Dimensional key ring of the crafter'

Due to activation while no keys are on the ring, please pick two of the following key.

Key to the forge

Key to the design room

Key to the jewelers workspace

Key to the boutique

Key to the factory

Key to the artificers lab

Key to the lounge

Key to the kitchen

Key to the bathroom

Key to the bedroom

Key to the armoury

Key to the store front]

After a bit of thought, Alex picked the forge and the boutique. At least this way he could start making weapons and armours right away.

Alex took the key, and then stopped. Did he just have to place the key in mid-air? Did he require a pre-existing door? Was the requirement a keyhole? Did he have to make one? If so how?

As if in response to his query, a keyhole appeared in mid-air in front of him.

"Why are you taking so long?" The player asked

"Just give me a second" Alex replied slightly irritably, inserting one of the new keys into the keyhole.

As he did, A rough and battered wooden door materialized out of thin air.

The door reminded Alex of the door he had seen when he first gained his class. But as if it had been stripped of all of its majesty and steadfastness, yet still keeping its defiance and tenacity.

Alex grasped the rusted, rough handle and pulled the door open.

"Will that keep monsters out?" The player asked in a quizzical tone.

Alex just shrugged and held the door open for him. Stepping forward confidently, the player smacked into an invisible wall in a slightly comical way. Alex gave a slight snicker.

"What the fuck was that?" The player shouted in an irritated tone.

Alex once again shrugged, however this time he gave it in a slightly irritating way, with a massive grin plastered all over his skull.

The player looked at something in front of him, and then turned towards Alex with eyes that could freeze a river.

"Apparently I have to be in your party to enter"

"Well, I do think it would be beneficial if we went through the forest together, strength in numbers and all that, good to have someone to watch your back in that death trap"

"Ah well, may as well" the player said in a flippant tone.

After making a few motions with his hand, the player looked at Alex expectantly. As the player finished his motions, a screen appeared Infront of Alex.

[Player 'Nicolas Flamel' wishes to form a party.

Do you accept]

"Nicolas Flamel?" Alex said with a snicker.

"O-oh yeah, then what's your name?" Nicolas said in a slightly flustered tone.

"Jack Aubrey" Alex said with a completely strait skull.

Nicolas gave out an audible laugh.

"And you think my naming sense is shit"

"At least I'm named after a main character, rather then an obscure extra"

"The fact you even know the origins of my name says more about you than me"

"Is that so you edge lord fuck?"

"Are you gonna accept the invite or what, you reject Creepy Pasta?"

"Oh, did I hurt your feelings, couldn't have hurt more than when your dad didn't come back from his trip to get milk"

"Frist opportunity I get, I'm dumping your lifeless corpse in a ditch, you lanky motherfucker"

"Is that so?" Alex shouted, slamming accept on the screen.

"Yeah" Nicolas spat, walking through the now accessible door and slamming it shut.

"I'd like to see you try" Alex called after Nicolas.

Alex stood fuming, he didn't know why but something about Nicolas rubbed him the wrong way. Alex sulked for a few more minutes before suddenly realizing something.

"Hey, that's my forge" Alex yelled, kicking down the door.

Nicolas sat in the middle of the forge, playing with an odd creature.

It was the size of the average 6 year Old, if he was asked sum up what it was, Alex would have called it a 'fluffy satyr, with wings and no arms'. Its sheep like back legs where covered in a thick, white wool, and ended in hooves. Its round, innocent, crimson eyes lay under a massive poof of wool on its head, it looked almost like an afro, which hid two stubby, curved ram horns. It had no arms but instead had two pure white wings. Over its entire body, spare the head and wings, was a massive poof of wool, giving the effect of a onesie.

Alex stood in the doorway for a few seconds before saying "No animals in the workshop" with a serious tone.

"She is not a fucking animal?" Nicolas replied in an angry tone.

There back and forth continued for a while, all through which the beast paid no attention and instead waddled over to where the ball, which had been thrown by Nicolas, sat.

Awkwardly, the creature bent down and tried to grasp it between its wing bones. After managing to grip it firmly between her wing bones, she waddled back to Nicolas and began to nudge him with the ball.

Still shouting loudly, Nicolas took the ball from the creature and threw it to one side of the room. This process continued through all through the argument.

"What even is that thing?" Alex asked in a disgruntled tone.

"She is something I raised from birth" Nicolas said, through gritted teeth.

"So what's the story behind her?"

Nicolas gave Alex a suspicious look before saying "it's to do with my class"

"Is it normal for her to be of that intelligence?"

"My class allows me to create creatures, she was my first, and only, creation" Nicolas said softly, looking at the creature "she was meant to be my tank, so I didn't put much of her stats into intelligence, turns out this gives her the intelligence of a toddler, however, she is getting smarter as time goes on"

"Do you normally tell strangers the secrets of your class?"

"Oh shut up"

"Well on this topic it may be best to know each others classes, helps with synergy and teamwork"

"Sure" Nicolas said flippantly turning to the little creature to give it his full attention.

"By the way, what's her name"

"Huh"

"The little fluffy thing, has a name doesn't it"

"Peu Blanc" Nicolas said, slightly embarrassed.

Alex stared at Peu Blanc, before giving a slight chuckle.

"Nice name" Alex said sincerely.

"Thanks" Nicolas muttered.

"Now that that's out of the way, lets talk strategy"

Nicolas looked a little incredulous at Alex's poor Segway, but said nothing.

Alex looked around and saw a bucket where cold water would be stored for dowsing. He picked the bucket and upturned it, then sat on it. It wasn't comfy so he just sat on the floor.

"So what does your class do?" Alex asked.

"As I already said, my class allows me to create and command monsters, the class has three major down sides" Nicolas explained

"Do enlighten me" Alex said after a short pause, which Alex assumed Nicolas used for only dramatic effect.

"Firstly it requires soul cores"

Alex nodded. Soul cores where items dropped by monsters, the stronger the monster, the higher the chance, each soul core was unique to the type of monster that dropped it.

"The second flaw is that there is not a guaranteed chance the monster will be created' Nicolas carried on "And the final flaw is that the monsters go through a 'growth phase' where they are a lot less affective then their adult forms"

"So that's dead weight" Alex stated, pointing at Peu Blanc.

"Yes and no" Nicolas said "While she is weak, she is still more effective than a newbie that just started"

Alex was glad that she would not slow the party down, and probably be more use than him.

"So what does your class do?" Nicolas asked quizzically.

"Well" Alex said, slightly sheepishly "I don't really know"

"What" Nicolas shouted incredulously.

"Listen" Alex retorted, defensively "I am a new player and this is apparently a class no one's acquired before, besides you know they've banned divulging information about classes on regular forums"

"Fine" Nicolas said irritably "Do you at least have an idea of what your class does"

"Its a production class that specializes in weapons and armour"

"That's good, it may mean we get some good starting equipment, speaking of which, we should probably see what items we've got"

Alex nodded and opened up his inventory.

[Inventory

Current item:

Basic rations X20

Basic blacksmith tools

Basic tinkerers toolkit

Basic sewing kit

Basic jewelers kit

Basic summoning stone

Dimensional key ring of the crafter

The first beast forgers tool belt

Map of discovery

Proof of the rising sun]

Alex looked at one item with Intrigue and opened up its details.

[Map of discovery

Single use item, reveals a part of the surrounding area, the average level and its secrets.

This map will only reveal a small part of the surrounding area.

Area revealed is random]

"Hey Nicolas" Alex said calmly, wanting to confirm his suspicion.

"Yes?"

"Do you have a map in your inventory?"

Nicolas looked at Alex before turning to his inventory, "I shouldn't... Oh wait, I do. Seems quite useful, funny I've never heard of anything like it"

"Nah, its probably not that strange you don't know"

"Why'd you say that?"

"Well you know the company that made this game also owns 'Chatter', and you must know how they are with game secrets so its probably a band topic on 'Chatter'"

"Makes sense, besides, doesn't seem like something you would want to share" Nicolas replied, nodding his head in agreement.

"I certainly wouldn't, lets hope before its truly exploited we've gotten far enough in the game to where it doesn't concern us"

"Who knows how long that will take"

"Shall we stop dwelling and use them?"

"Hold on, we may find a time when they could be used better, lets not be hasty"

"Listen Nicolas, we are in a situation with too many unknowns, despite this being a new account I don't really feel like making a new one, during character creation I had to listen to that blue bastard for close to an hour, I am not going through that again"

"We still shouldn't just throw away such a great item for short term survival"

"Why not? If we die here now it'll be a waste, besides, this is the perfect place to use it" While speaking, Alex's tone became more and more elated, and his eyes twinkled with joy "this is unexplored land, from what we've seen, this place is probably untouched by players, we may be the first players to uncover secrets in this area. Does that not excite you?"

"Frankly no"

"what!?"

"It delights me"

"what's the difference?"

"Simple, you see a new adventure waiting for you, I see a massive payday waiting to be taken"

"You must have a pretty sad life" Alex said in a mocking tone.

"Don't let me bore you with the details" Nicolas replied in an equally mocking tone.

Alex smiled, although he had know Nicolas for barely ten minutes, but it felt like they had been friends for years. Nicolas was standoffish and wouldn't engage in conversation when needed, but seeing him seem so happy made Alex smile. Alex didn't know what the future would hold, but he wanted to experience it with Nicolas. Plus he was easy to wind up so if nothing else, he would have some entertainment.

"Welp" Alex said resolutely "no time like the present"

And with that Alex brought the blank, crinkled parchment out of his inventory. As he did, a screen flashed up Infront of him.

[Do you wish to use 'map of discoveries'?

If you do the item will be lost]

"Activate" Alex and Nicolas in unison.