Basic of Survival

I stared at the notification for a minute before looking away. It was now a reminiscent of the past. A life lost, a second chance. Winning my fourth championship was now the end of my previous life. This life will only be me and my girls. To live a normal life with my wives and hopefully future children.

The voices of the two players were now at a far distance down the footpath. I hurried back to the lake and tree, sat down, and thought about what all of this could mean for me…

It had just announced that I was dead which meant that if anyone saw me right now, questions will start to pop up in the chat and forums. With the second life, I have now, I didn't want any of that. All I wanted is to find my wives and live a happy. But for me to find them, I need better equipment. If I don't do so, I would die very quickly even if I'm a veteran at this.

I stared out at the glimmering surface of the water of the lake. I need to go to Lacan city and sell all my loot for gold. One of the most disappointing things about this game than the other MMOs is the fact that the monsters don't drop any gold as part of the loot.

Gold in this game is more of a scavenger hunt. You can only find gold. Other than that, it's either given from a quest, a reward from PvP or selling goods.

Even if I wanted to go on a scavenger hunt for gold, I can't at my level since most gold is found surrounded by dangerous beasts. Even though there may be an abundance of gold, there's no easy way of obtaining it alive. Most players who go on scavenger hunts are players from guilds. The guilds have resources and players strong enough to protect the workers that mines the ore.

If you're in your own, you must defend yourself whilst mining the ore which is an impossible feat to do alone. This meant that the only option for low levelled players to gain gold is through quests.

As I stared deeper at the lake, I began to laugh.

I grabbed a stone from the ground beside me and threw it at the lake as hard as I could and as I did, I screamed. The stone hits the water's surface with a soft 'plop' sound and all that was left after was the ripples that caused the glimmer of sunlight to waver.

I was hungry after all the grinding, so I went into my inventory and grabbed some of the loot I've managed to get in the grind. I laid them all out in front of me and noticed that I had indeed picked up some meat from the beasts that I've killed. I quickly made a firepit by grabbing a few rocks and made a circle. I then went further into the forest and grabbed some dry wood and placed them in the centre of the firepit. It was now that I realized a mistake I've made. I placed 2 points into the elemental magic - ice and not fire... in combat, ice would've been the more logical choice but right now I really needed the utility of fire magic...

I rubbed my face with my hands before I made the decision to go back into the woods and grind some more. I looked to the sky and the sunlight began to dimmer. Fire. Fire is more important than my hunger right now… I mean I could try to create fire the old-fashioned way but knowing that it could take forever made it the lesser appealing option.

I pulled out my knife and marvelled at how clean the blade was. I've never noticed it before but placing my knife back into the inventory cleans it.

Nifty.

I gripped the handle firmly in my palm and turned my gaze behind me, back into the forest. I pushed myself up from the tree and rolled my shoulders. With little daylight left, it's back to grinding…

I twirled the knife in between my fingers as I searched for something easy to kill.

Squawk! Squawk!

Ah… no…

I raised my gaze to the branches of the trees above me and gripped the knife tighter in the palm of my hand.

Red eyes.

Lines of birds sat neatly along the branches as they eyed me like I was their early dinner.

"Your dinner has been served! Come get me!" I taunted the birds whilst I sneakily casted the frost bite spell.

[You have activated {Frost Bite} Level 2]

Instantly the ground below me started to freeze over. The thin sheet of ice started to spread along the ground until it reached the base of the trees. The ice climbed up the trunk and within seconds, as the corner of the branches froze. The red eyes began to squawk louder as they all swerved their head to the side and watched the ice creep up on them.

All the red eyes spread their wings and tried to launch themselves off the branch, but my frost bite spell was at least quick enough to catch the bird by their ankles.

[You have activated {Summon: Mouse Squire} Level 3]

A small little mouse appeared before me, clad in some basic plated armour. He looked up to me and squeaked.

I nodded to him, and he unsheathed his little sword.

"Squeak!" He roared and sprinted forward.

Mouse squire is the first summon, a summoner can summon. If you sink in all your points into summons than they will eventually evolve into their most powerful form. Mouse squire final evolution, if I decided to place my points into him, would be Argent Mouse Hero.

Other than wanting to be a Shinobi or going with the meta, Summons and being a summoner had always intrigued me. To have constant companions and a hidden army at your disposal could've been the most op'est thing if it wasn't for the role that is Necromancer. Simply just summoning an instant army of the undead that can't die and can rebuild themselves is the most broken skill for a class and had been unanimously banned by the players from competition.

Mouse squire moved like lightning as he zipped up the trunk of a tree and in a flash, ran his blade along the necks on all the red eyes on the branch with one smooth movement, their bodies dropped over the branch, as their legs still frozen to the branch. Their heads dropped to the ground.

Mouse squire leaped from one branch to another and did the same thing. Heads fell to the ground as their bodies flailed over the branches like some gruesome Christmas tree decorations.

Oh… I shouldn't have thought about that…

…

I tore my eyes away from the scene and hoped I wouldn't have any nightmares when I drift off to sleep tonight.

As I walked away from the haunting scene, Mouse squire jumped onto my shoulder as he resheathed his blade. I raised my hand patted the little guy's head. Mouse squire let out a little squeak before fading away.

He must've timed out.

Wait… how much mana do I have left?

1%?!

Shit…

I looked around before slowly wobbled my way back to the way I've came. With no mana, I'm just a sitting duck in a forest with death at every darkened blind spot. My home base isn't far from where I am and if I'm lucky I wouldn't be spotted but if push comes to shove, I will use some of the mana potions.

I pushed my way through some brush, making sure I wouldn't step on a twig or kick over a stone, just like any stealth game, sound in this game works the same. There's a radius around me where if a creature was within my radius and I've made any sort of sound, the creature would either have heard it or be on high alert.

Slowly and quietly, I pushed myself to the limit and made my way back to the lake. I could feel my stomach rumble in hunger pains.

I needed food but was too tired to even make a fire.

I could smell the stench of dried red eyes blood and fleshly body parts all over my body and decided to use the very small amount of energy left I have left for a bath.

I made it to the water's edge with a couple of falls and slowly dipped myself into the lake's water.

In an instant all the pain washed away and refreshed a bit of my sanity and fatigue.

I let the water take me as I floated closer towards the centre of the lake.

The water loosened all the tension within my muscles and allowed the bad energy within my body to seep out.

Fuck this felt good. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling.

It was a blissful moment, a moment I wished my girls were here with me to enjoy.

The moment stayed in my head as I imagined that very scene.

Charlotte would be lying down on the water's edge humming a beautiful tune and Amelia would be enjoying herself chasing wild animals within the forest before dragging a creature back for us to eat.

Hana would be sitting next to as we leaned back against the trunk of the tree as we looked up to the sky and enjoyed each other's company.

Oh, how I missed them so much.

I felt emotional, I wanted to cry but instead of the gloomy feeling overcoming me, a small smile bloomed on the tips of my lips as an image of my girls' smile lightened up my thoughts.

Roar!

An earth-shattering sound shook me out of my happy thought.

Roar!

My eyes opened wide as the water started to pull me down into its depths. Waves of water washed over me as the sound became louder.

I must get myself back on land or I would drown.

ROAR!