Chapter 11
Standing behind Kalic were three other individuals, which Rain hadn't noticed beforehand. A tall and buff woman with short black hair, a younger, short, and thinner guy who seemed to be fidgeting with something constantly, and an older guy with a beard and grey hair. Each of them had an air about them, almost an aura to them.
"Everyone, this is Rain; she will be part of your squad," Kalic said to the three of them before turning back to Rain. "This will be your squad, nicknamed 'The Wanderers'. You all will report directly to me about the things you find out there. I'll let them introduce themselves."
The first to step up was the tall, buff lady. She was wearing very little, and her muscles were so well-toned that they looked like they could cut rocks. The air around her was stiff and threatening. The buff lady stuck out her hand like she wanted to shake, so Rain grabbed her hand to return; however, what she didn't expect was for the buff lady to squeeze her hand immediately. It felt like Rain's hand was going to get crushed, and her bones would break, but before anything bad could happen, the buff lady let go. Rain could only pull her hand back and rub it, feeling betrayed.
"Not very strong, but no matter. Lieutenant here says your a 'powered' and good with the sword. If you live up to his praises, we'll have no problems working together. The names Sunny," then she began to mumble, "though everyone calls me overcast."
"Uh, nice to meet you, Sunny, I hope we can work well together." Rain smiled at Sunny, and Sunny just blew some hair out of her face and backed up. Next to come up was the young, short, and thin guy who seemed to keep fidgeting with something. Once he stepped closer, she finally saw what he was fidgeting with. It was a weird cube contraption with different colors that could spin in any which way. Except while he wasn't moving it, it seemed to move on its own, almost like it was undoing the things that the guy had just done. He wore rather weird-looking clothes that looked almost like robes, and his hair was messy. The air around him felt mystical but harmless. He stuck out his hand and spoke in a disinterested tone.
"Benji." Rain shook his hand, and compared to how Sunny shook her hand, Benji was not forceful enough. It felt like he was a dead fish, his arm limp and everything. He also seemed completely annoyed at the fact that he had to shake hands with Rain. 'Maybe he isn't interested in women,' Rain thought to herself. Rain smiled on the outside, however, as she realized what she thought was rather rude. Benji quickly stepped back and continued fidgeting with his cube.
The last one to come forward was the older guy. His hair was already greyed and had wrinkles as well. However, the air around him was the most fierce, even if it was the hardest to feel. Sunny's air was the most obvious, and it felt like unbridled violence, while this old man felt like a silent death, an instant, silent, death. He wore the classic leather armor with fur. His armor seemed to have been tinted into a darker shade, and multiple knife sheaths could be seen all around his body. He bowed slightly and spoke in a quiet and steady voice.
"Alfred." Rain lightly bowed back, mimicking what Alfred had just done a moment ago.
"Nice to meet you, Alfred," Rain said, with a slight bit of sweat trickling down her forehead. She wasn't sure if it was the sun finally making her warm or if it was the guy's aura. You all will meet up here tomorrow morning for a debriefing. Heard?"
"Heard." They all replied unanimously before walking off in different directions. Kalic then turned towards Rain and spoke.
"Don't mind their unique personalities. To be best prepared for the forest, we had to grab some of our 'powered' individuals, and those three were the only ones I could pull out of their previous squads right away. I wanted John too, but he disappeared, and I couldn't find him."
"Wait, John is a 'powered'," Rain asked, shocked.
"You couldn't tell," Kalic asked, amused.
"I mean, I saw the things he did and was certainly surprised, but I didn't know he was a 'powered'."
"Yea, he is one of the most disinterested and unpassionate 'powered' we have. Yet he is still one of the strongest ones we have."
"He's one of the strongest," Rain couldn't help but ask, shocked again.
"Yeah, he just doesn't ever try very hard, so his true strength doesn't ever show. He's one of the only people in this place who has bested me."
"Wait, seriously?"
"Yea."
"Holy Crap." Rain couldn't help but get shivers from that thought. No wonder the guy seemed so uninterested in the 'Ravenging Hog'. The thing was already half dead, and it only took him a couple of seconds to kill. When he said he was just putting it out of his misery, he wasn't lying.
"Well, we should probably head back to Han and get you your cloak and shoes. Best not to keep that man waiting."
"Alright. I am excited to see what he made for me."
"You'll love it. Han takes the creation process of unique items very seriously." Kalic and Rain began to make their way back to the armory. Once there, Kalic called for Han the same way he did the last time. The sound of grunts and tools being put down could be heard as well. Han walked out, saw it was Kalic and Rain, and then a smile appeared on his face. He ran back into the room before coming back out with two things in his hands. A black cloak with some white wolf fur on it, and some black boots with black fur on it. He handed them over to Rain with a smile on his face.
"Um, thanks Han," Rain said, a little concerned at how excited Han was about the items.
"Go on," Han mentioned to her, "Try them on." Rain could only look at him a little oddly before looking at the new stuff. The cloak was a thick black fabric with a hood, and right underneath the hood, where the neck and shoulders were, was the white fur stitched on. It covered the entire base of her upper back and shoulders, as well as a little bit of her lower back. She felt the fur and found it to be extremely soft and comfortable. She then looked at the boots and found them to be made of black leather, but she could also see on the back side of the boot there was some black fur stitched into it as well. The two pieces were beautiful to look at, and they looked extremely well made. She was glad to have these two items. It was then that Rain heard two notifications.
*Ding*
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You have collected -White Tempest Wolf Cloak-
Rating: D
- Increased Speed when worn
- Increased Damage Resistance
- Special: Cloak can not get wet
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*Ding*
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You have collected -Black Tempest Wolf Boots-
Rating: D
- Increased Speed when worn
- Increased Damage Resistance
- Special: Boots can not get wet
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Rain was shocked at the rating and bonuses from the two items; these two pieces were priceless to her at her level. She didn't deserve them. Both of the equipment were beautiful and were exactly the kind of things she wanted. She quickly switched her shoes to the boots, carefully setting the bracers that held her pant legs into the boots. Then she put on the cloak. It ran a bit long, ending at her knees, but it was extremely comfortable to wear. She quickly tied her shortsword scabbard around her waist, and the cloak still felt comfortable. She could easily draw her blade without the cloak getting in the way.
"Thank you so much, Han," Rain almost yelled out in her excitement.
"No need to be too excited; it's the least I could do since none of our armor sets were going to fit you anyways. Now scram. I still have work orders to do," Han said while lumbering into the back. However, the smile he had on his face hadn't left. Once he had gone to the back room, Rain realized that she was still wearing the practice clothes Kalic lent her.
"When should I give you back these practice clothes, Kalic?"
"Oh, those? Those are yours now. Since you became a member of the Aeitha guard, you get your own set of those. You should be glad to know that they have been enchanted to clean themselves and mend themselves over time. We've had too many people trying to get new ones because they tore or because they got too soiled. So we just took the price hit and got them enchanted." Rain could only stay shocked for the time being. Joining the Aeitha guard was the best choice for her. "For the time being, you can do whatever you want. Just make sure to be out in the courtyard in the morning, though; that's a requirement. I'll see you then." After saying so, Kalic walked out of the armory and left.
Rain was a bit too shocked to do much else right now, so she just walked to the room that was given to her and sat on the bed. She thought back to the fact that she had barely spent a whole day in the game yet, and had already gotten so far. The thought that she had been in the game for at least eight hours was a sudden cold bucket of water that got dropped on her. Would her parents be worried about her? She remembered reading the directions to get out of the game. She just had to lie down and tell the system to log out. She quickly laid down on the bed and closed her eyes.
"Log out." She said to the world, and her consciousness faded from her.