Trouble

Rin was back at it again. Since he wasn't a pro anymore, he didn't bother with the outrage going on over the web.

He simply left his pub to Seth, exercised, had breakfast and logged back into Apotheosis Online.

The detesting beep hadn't changed as Rin put on the VR headset.

Despite his preparedness, Rin felt his heartbeat climbing at the complete shift of the surroundings. The augmented strength came into play within a second, as he felt wonderful about himself.

He was back where he left off.

Seriously, the feeling was too addicting. Although he wouldn't be able to crush rocks with his bare palms, he was more than twice as strong in the game. With genuine realism in the play, this was freaking intoxicating.

However, all of it wasn't that great. His skin, now permeated with filthy blood, which gave a savage, barbaric vibe.

"I wish they had put an auto wash feature," Rin thought out loud. He checked his sword and damaged shield, and moved in the direction he had chosen last night.

It seemed night had passed when he was sleeping and it was already noon. Time seemed to be wonky in the game. There was no official statement if they perfected time dialysis in the virtual world.

More importantly, Avalon was known for keeping its secrets. Even this game felt like it was shrouded in mystery.

Well, good news. It had nothing to Rin. He would simply play and enjoy.

'Now, what was there to do in this wilderness?'

Bath? That's a necessity.

Make food? Rin rubbed his stomach and figured he was quite hungry. He ate some berries on his last play, and the breakfast he had in the real world probably helped to list it not as a prime priority.

Hunt? Well, as long as he could find prey easily. He surely won't like to be terribly outnumbered by hungry wolves like the last time. Still, it was one of the top priorities, 'cause it was still the only way to grow strength.

Although Rin was a two-trick pony with his only Ability [Mana Cloak], it still cost a lot of mana when he used it freely against the wolves.

He somehow came victorious, but the result wouldn't be the same if there were a couple of more wolves.

So collecting different kinds of gems would be a top priority. That reminded him, he has four Agility Enhancing gems, but no way to use them.

He wasn't sure if his high Fortune would help with this.

"Perhaps I should have taken Dawn's offer," he muttered.

Well, no point in fretting over that. Rin found quite some trees with wild berries on his way. He only ate the ones he recognised, in case the game took that to even a new height.

Rin certainly didn't know what poisoning felt like. And he would like to keep it that way.

"Water, water, I need water!"

Rin strolled, wrinkling his nose, as the smell of the tainted blood lingered.

With the sun at its peak, Rin walked in between the trees. He had no idea where he was heading, but he followed his gut and kept going until he stumbled upon something.

Rin couldn't expect a restroom, or some hotels or anything here in the wild, where he would get everything he would need from water and food to a place to spend the night. He would have to spend the night under the naked sky, if he didn't log out.

In the path, he found no humans so far nor many wild animals or deadmen who gave him Evolution gems and Avalon credits. Some part of Rin still wanted to find a few zombies again before he could find water and clean himself. Not to talk about the Evolution gems, it would give him the Avalon coins—the currency here, which would be essential to buy other stuff with them.

Well, he was dirty already, so it's better to make the most of it.

It seemed the almighty above had listened to him, as soon he heard the familiar screeches of the zombies. His lips curved upwards at the thought of earning more coins and Evolution gems.

However, it wasn't as simple as it looked.

There were howls and screeches at the same time, and those weren't just coming from a few of those undead creatures or wolves. There should be a large pack of them. Rin didn't even consider going there to look.

Instead, he turned his head and crept away in the other direction. 'I can hunt plenty of wolves and undead if I'm alive. No need to challenge that.'

However, it seemed he used up his last bit of good luck in the lucky draw as the howls rose, approaching his direction. His intention of not getting involved with the wolves and undead didn't seem to matter anymore.

Rin literally had no other option at the first sign of the wolves.

With Wolves and Undead into play, Rin was perfectly aware it was out of his league in a fair fight. Hell, even only one of them could mortally injure him if he's sloppy. So, he ran. Her speed increased too, but not as much to outrun the wolves.

Rin gripped the hilt tight on his right arm, examining his surroundings, looking to find anything that he could use to this advantage.

The howls crazed behind him increasingly, and maybe he could find their numbers if he turned now. Rin was considering doing that just when he heard a scream.

From a person.

"Hey, Brother!" It was a masculine voice, loud and clear. "Gods, I've been running around for hours and finally found someone."

The newcomer seemed to come back to his senses a little, finding Rin, but his expression went aghast shortly as Rin kept on moving with no hint of stopping. He disregarded the stranger's plea completely.

"Hey brother, are you listening? Why don't you give this poor fella a hand? Surely, we two brothers can defeat them."

"Sorry," Rin said, peeking a look, "I don't remember having any brother with the thinnest resemblance to you."

The stranger was one lanky fellow, chased by a pack of wolves as he outran the undead already. Anyway, this fellow could run like a real run. His sprint was almost on par with the wolves, though his stamina wouldn't make it.

Unlike Rin, who was given a short sword and a shield, this newcomer had two daggers. Rin just saw him using one of them to cut the claw of one wolf when it thrust at him.

"But we could be," the fellow shouted, panting frantically. "You just. . . You just have to help this brother a little . . ."

"Pardon, but I don't have any intention of forming a brotherhood with some mysterious lunatic."