38 || Explorer's Side (1)

Instead of being in the empty virtual space, Tara finds herself inside the restaurant themed chatroom this time. The sight of some of her classmates chatting is a welcome surprise with how confused she is.

"Arthur! Bradley! Tori!" She calls out to them, rushing to their side. Luckily she recognized the in-game names of Crafty Goliath, Honest Wind, and Kingdom Lock. The trio formed of a tall male anthropomorphic Black Bear known as Ursayji, a lanky white human male with fox ears and a pretty female elf with ivory skin.

All of their gear from a passive glance all carried the red glow of Common equipment. Giving a scan with Inspect, the items they wore were level 4 while they're levels were at 7! All in all they were considered average, with the leveling maniacs and skilled players approaching level 8 soon.

"Starry River! How are you doing buddy!?" Honest Wind calls Tara by her in-game name as soon as he sees her. The three teens step away from the bar and hug their friend. Crafty Goliath easily lifts her up, but then Tara surprises them by doing the same in return.

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Kingdom Lock asks, a little confused. A bronze longsword sits on her hip, her long black hair braided down her back.

"My session's going through an upgrade so it booted me out." Tara replies helplessly as she slides into a booth. "Didn't realize it was going to send me to the restaurant, so that was nice to find out. Why are you here and not in your sessions?"

"Oh, we're still in our session. It turns out if we enter a restaurant, we can choose to enter the game's or enter the chat room. Things are cheaper here, so we stopped by." Crafty Goliath clarifies with a sigh, resting his greatsword on his back. "Since we're only so strong we can't get as much Coin as those experts."

Coins were hard to gather for ordinary players. Common monsters only gave Experience while Elite monsters gave Experience and Coin. But without proper Arts, Crafts, and Equipment, newbie players struggle to fight against Common monsters, earning several Coppers if they are lucky. People who had played such games before could earn tens of Coppers, not to say anything of members from sponsored Workshops or Guilds.

It's said that Guilds who had relocated to Renovel, despite a true Guild system not being implemented yet, had several Silver on hand collectively which was hundreds of Coppers.

"I didn't know Coins were so hard to come by." Tara wishes she could help.

It's then she remembers that her title came with two Silver! She had no need for it, as the Martial Academy only used points to exchange for items!

Tara was unsure though if she could trade items since they ran on different servers. But if she can make trades with her other Novelist companions then shouldn't she be able to trade with Explorers? Besides, she had already planned to give the Basic Regen Potions to her classmates if she could, so it was better to kill two birds.

The trade window before the trio suddenly pops up, startling them. While only Crafty Goliath's had a potion, Honest Wind's held a silver coin as well. It's Kingdom Lock's squeal that catches their attention. Before the two boys can ask, Kingdom Lock's already pressed accept and not a moment later a well-crafted iron saber is handed.

Tara decides to make it three birds instead of two, as she had a few items she had crafted stored in her spatial ring. After forging days, students could submit their creations for points but only those desperate or talented enough would do so as the quality of the weapon or armor built would determine the points given. Tara had chosen to keep what she made and it looked like doing so came in handy.

"This sword..." Lock spoke softly, as a umber glow came from the weapon. The special effect signified a Bronze tier item. Even the upper echelons of first rate Guilds gear only gave off the cyan glow when revealed, a marker of Obsidian Equipment. Bronze tier is just too rare at their level. "You made this?! Not even the best in our Empire can make Obsidian weapons! The stats on this thing are insane, almost double than my Porcelain sword! It's even my level!"

Tara smiles at the compliment but doesn't say anything. If she tells them that the saber was something she made as a warm-up they'd most likely quit Adventure mode and start over. Making a note to try a little harder, she promises to make some good equipment for her friends.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything more for you all but if you come back in half an hour I might have something else?" Tara apologizes but they wave her off.

What they've been given was more than enough to change their situation around. Just with a Silver they could gear up the three of them and two others in level matching Common equipment. Since she is here the trio offers to find Kristen, teasing her as Tara gets flustered, before leaving the double sided restaurant. Soon they'd hope to be able to repay the Silver.

***

Grass as tall as man stretched out for as far as the eye could see. The seemingly endless stalks of grass were home to vicious Stone Wolves, a Level 10 Common monster. They boast high Defense and Agility, able to use the terrain to their advantage and disappear into the grass. This place was a forbidden zone for the average player.

"Flame, do it now!" A level 7 female Forfend shouts out, blocking the fangs of two Wolves on her own. Two counts of -80 appear over her head but she had close to 300 HP. However, though her stance is still stable, the difference in strength pushes her back. Gladiolus Rain, or Qisma, is glad that she had chosen Dryad as her class. Her Ancestral Ability is Aqua Shield, which could be layered with her Iron Guard skill. The latter Art cut incoming damage by 50% while the Ability not only added an additional 20% defense but healed her for 1% of the Physical Damage dealt.

Flame Ribbon, or Kristen, waves her Rod at the beasts. A beam of green Wind energy fires from the crystal at its tip before splitting into four strikes. Air Darts cut through the Stone Wolves hard bodies, dealing -100 damage each. While Fire type magic is her preference, magic classes had no choice but to learn a variety of Crafts early in the game. Both Craft Primers and Art Scrolls, also known as Skill Books collectively, are not easy to come by and only by becoming stronger could players have more freedom.

Iris Ash, or Renee, continues with a volley of regular arrows from her bow.

They fly true, striking the same spot as Flame Ribbon, with the damage doubling to -200. Of the Stone Wolves 800 HP, they had cut it down by more than a 1/3 in one quick moment. As the wolves' Hatred shifts onto Irish Ash, before they can pounce away from the Forfend in front of them, a damage value of -150 appears in an explosion!

This follow up effect is Iris Ash's Spark Shot! The effect was weaker due to the wolves elemental type but it was enough to significantly wound them. With only 350 HP left and an Injury debuff, Gladiolus Rain pulls the wolves back with a Gloating Strike for another -100.

Between their increasing coordination and having figured out early on that striking in the same place had numerous effects, they could fight above their level. The trio hasn't gotten the grasp on the timing to interrupt or cancel monsters' Skills but an Injury state lowered a monster's Agility or Health Recovery, which was crucial!

They make quick work of the two wolves in a matter of minutes, the wolves going Berserk before they meet their end, as they complete their practiced roles. As long as they didn't run into three or more, the trio wouldn't need their class's best heal focused Mage, Demetrius. They were currently running some level 5-8 Party dungeons which could have up to 6 players.

"Oh?" Flame Ribbon suddenly says aloud as they're picking up the loot, which was 3 Copper and two pieces of Stone Wolf Meat. "Girls, it seems we have a guest waiting for us at the restaurant!"

"What's got you all smiley? You usually just call us 'those two'." Gladiolus comments as she checks her Experience bar. Sure enough, leveling in a forbidden zone works wonders. Another hour or so here and they'd reach level 8.

"She doesn't seem ill, but she does seem flushed. That can only mean one person should have come calling." Iris Ash laughs as she skips over and presses her forehead against the shorter girl's. Flame Ribbon swats the Fire Dryad away. Gladiolus Rain gives a wry smile as she dusts her hands with the monster corpses turning into motes of cobalt, phlox, and lavender light.

"Then we can't keep your knight apart from you a moment longer! Onwards, for we must reunite these two star-crossed lovers!" Gladiolus Rain cheekily says and starts to head back to Emerald Brook Town.

"I am never telling you two hooligans anything ever again. How Tara can put up with you is beyond me." Flame Ribbon huffs, her cheeks red from blushing. However she follows Gladiolus Rain's lead, keeping an eye out for any monsters. Iris Ash pulls the rear, hand crossbow ready as it was quicker to fire in an instant. Her eyes glow red as she uses Scope to scan the area of threats.

They arrive about 45 minutes later, after coming across another pair of Stone Wolves as they exited. Emerald Brook Town was buzzing with activity of players and NPCs. Most players were independent, carrying the simple badge of the Explorer Association. There were some that had customized badges to signify their placement in an Workshop or a part of a crossed-over Guild.

The tell-tale difference in Adventure Mode versus Story Mode was the blue diamond shape marker hovering above players' heads. Despite the 10,000 player population, many NPCS were visible and able for quests or business. The trio finds the nearest Moondew Cafe and enters, immediately choosing the chatroom. They aren't too surprised to see the Crafty Goliath, Honest Wind, and Kingdom Lock already conversing with Tara. What alarms them is the sudden change in gear! Each one had Common gear for their level which they would at least need 50 or so Copper to do so!

"Is that an Iron tier saber??" Galiodi Rain exclaims, her senses picking up the presence of the sword on Kingdom Lock's hip. She kept up with the gossip and rumors on the forums but hadn't heard a peep about someone owning such a weapon! What kind of encounter did these three have to outfit them so well?

"It is! Tara made it!" Kingdom Lock confirms with a wide grin. Everyone's eyes were on Tara now. Tara splays her hand as if it had nothing to do with her.

"It's not much, honestly. I can do better if I have some time but right now my session is on an update. Besides, I have some things I think that might be more immediately useful?" Tara says truthfully, hoping to move on to her next surprise. Six trade windows open, Flame Ribbon's trio receiving their Basic Regen Potions, but everyone also receives a stack of 20 Black Mushrooms and White Mushrooms.

In the time Crafty's trio had gone to purchase new Equipment and give Kingdom Blade's Saber a try, Tara experimented with her energy channeling ability. Unlike her world, which was purely based around elemental energy, everything in Adventure mode was filtered by a different type of energy called Essence. It took a few minutes of doing but she could still use her energy conversion ability, although it was much weaker.

"Just what is this? These are even better than Basic Health Potions? Not as good as the Regen but the fact that you can stack the two while getting the Healing Over Time effect and mass produced so many in so little time is astonishing!" Gladiolus reads aloud. If these were shared with their Dungeon diving classmates, it would lighten the load of the healers probably to the point where the Record Speed Clears could be done!

"If our Artisan friends had half the amount of Crafting Proficiency as you, we might even be able to make a name for ourselves in Renovel. With these we could stay in the Endless Plains for at least a few hours!" Gladiolus continues, a little awe in her low voice as Lock shares the weapon's statistics. The group starts walking towards the exit, Tara among them.

"I wasn't aware it was so hard to--" Tara's cut off just as they reach the doorway. Five chains--a pitch black one on her left ankle, glittering white on her right ankle, a radiant cobalt blue on her left wrist, a bloody phlox pink on her right wrist, and royal lavender around her neck--suddenly shackle her and pull her to the ground. Her friends jump at the sight only for a powerful pressure to suddenly bear down on them if they tried to help her. It feels as if time is frozen. The higher level three were better off, though barely so, compared to the weaker trio.

"Such a powerful individual is not allowed to cross the Boundary without trial. No matter what feeble magics in place to the two realms together now--oh? How intriguing! This space connects to several worlds and even I cannot unravel this place easily. How can such a thing be done by a mere child?" The voice asks aloud, curiosity clearly evident in the tone shift. "Ah, I see. They used a Dreamer as the base before manipulating the connection between them to create and bind miniature Gates. Interesting! Truly interesting."

Only Tara has the vaguest idea as to what the voice spoke of. The Dreamer was her but could the 'mere child' be Izel? The others are both frightened and confused at what they were witnessing. All of this because Tara tried to cross over into the Adventure mode?

"Izel the Lavender Artificer? How arrogant to have the most divine of colors in their name. It seems out of all the worlds under my sight you deserve extra attention. I will not limit you, young Dreamer, since trading with the Main World is unavoidable. But heed my warning: should you attempt to breach into Sharizol again through such means the punishment will be severe!"