The Ruined Fortress of Roha Vala, Part Three

"Tik"

[Okay...]

"Tik"

[... How do I deal with this guy?]

Currently, Neve was sitting behind the second floor's railing while the archer continued firing off arrows in her general direction. The mannequin had been hitting the same spot on the wall for the past ten minutes now, all while Neve had taken the time to figure out where she'd be putting her attribute points.

Killing those two previous mannequins led to her leveling up twice, making her current status look like this:

Level 23

MP: 330/330 (+50)

EXP: 50/230

Activity Points: 150

WS Tokens: 3450

---

Endurance: 11

Speed: 10

Precision: 15

Strength: 5

Arcane: 33

The only loot she found on the mannequin's bodies were the weapons they wielded, which Neve could not use, and one Mannequin Core on each of them, which sold for 50 WS Tokens in the shop.

All in all, she'd gained 500 tokens from killing both creatures and selling their stuff.

Hissing, Neve squeezed the spot on her left arm where the arrow had struck earlier. Ghost wounds were something tanks often talked about in forums that Neve had not quite experienced up until now. The strange phenomenon of feeling like a wound you healed away was still there.

"That really fucking hurt..."

She placed all 6 of the points she acquired from leveling into her Endurance. Of course, with how under-leveled she was for this dungeon, and possibly any others she'd be taking on in the near future, the chances that this slight increase would prevent her from getting killed in one hit were slim, but she felt it was worth it regardless.

Especially since she didn't have access to any high-level combat spells or healing spells, which made increasing her Arcane stat less worthwhile. Sure, she could do so simply for the mana, but her current set of abilities was worthless if she just died in one hit anyway.

"Tik"

[Honestly... Maybe I should have been more proactive out there before I went into the Final Challenge... I never expected a situation like this, though.]

It was funny to think of the fact that her plan of only taking simple, easy jobs had come back to bite her. She almost regretted it, despite the months of relative safety that it brought.

[No, no,] she told herself. [That's just hindsight, Neve. You couldn't have seen something like this coming down the line. It just is what it is.]

The pile of arrows just in front of Neve became slightly larger as the seconds ticked by.

At this point, Neve was fully convinced this bow mannequin possessed an infinite number of arrows.

Going back to the matter at hand, Neve glanced over at the hall just beside her.

[... I could go and leave right now, but, what if this thing actually starts following me? It hasn't moved yet, but what if that's just because I'm still technically in the same room as it or something? I might end up catching an arrow in the back if I just leave it alive.]

"Tik"

Sighing, Neve let her head drop against the railing.

[So... What the hell do I do?]

For a few seconds, Neve just stared at the wall ahead of her.

The arrows came in a rhythm, bouncing off it and adding to the pile.

As she stared at it, she realized something.

[... Wait a moment.]

Blinking, Neve leaned forward a little.

"Tik"

An arrow hit the wall, and Neve started counting.

"One, two, three..." She trailed off, continuing the count in her thoughts, until... "Seven, eight-"

At that moment, another arrow struck the wall.

She started counting again.

"One, two, three... six, seven, eight-"

Again, another arrow.

[Is that how long it takes for the archer to fire another shot?]

She nearly stood up to look at the mannequin but hesitated.

[Will it start firing off shots faster if it sees me?] However, she shook her head. [This is the best shot you have. You need to take the risk.]

And so, as yet another arrow struck the wall, Neve stood up fully.

She watched the process happen. The mannequin slowly, robotically, nocked an arrow, raised it up, pulled it back, and let it go, just after Neve crouched again.

"Eight seconds," she muttered. "Every time. So, what if I...?"

The next time an arrow bounced off the wall, quickly, Neve stood up and shot a {Waterball} at the enemy. The spell struck and she went back to sitting behind the railing without being hit herself.

[This works!]

There was just one unfortunate issue.

She did it again, firing off the spell and crouching before an arrow could hit her, and realized:

[... This is gonna take a while, isn't it?]

Another arrow bounced off the wall, almost as though the mannequin was trying to say "yes".

---

{Charlotte}

The sun was beginning to dip beyond the horizon. At this time of the day, most people tended to go back home just so they could avoid any potential nighttime outbreaks, which usually yielded more casualties.

Charlotte, however, was sitting at the same ramen shop that she'd visited the previous day, continuing to do her research on the various members of the 100-player group that was currently tackling the Final Challenge. One of them, however, had caught her eye.

"You're still stalking that girl?" Jack asked as he cleaned his counter.

"Yep," Charlotte replied as she scrolled down an article she'd found earlier. "So, get this. I tried to see if that girl was part of any guilds but, turns out she's still independent."

"Really?" Jack stopped, briefly. "That's... wow."

His confusion was merited.

As society had slowly gotten used to the Unity Trials and civilization slowly returned to what could loosely be called "normalcy", guilds began to appear. The first was, of course, that of the Council's Guild. This public, governmental guild was established by the Council of Humanity in hopes of giving players a salary of WS Tokens in return for clearing dungeons and fighting the outbreaks. Soon after the establishment of the Council's Guild, however, other, private guilds began popping up with their own distinct rules and philosophies.

The Church's Guild was the second. After the Unity Trials, many people, perhaps understandably, began seeking out answers and justifications for why humanity was being put through this.

Many turned toward religion, deciding that these trials were placed on humanity by the god they followed as a test of some sort, and they began seeking out like-minded people whom they then established the Church's Guild with. This guild did earn itself a few enemies, however, due to their rules. Most notably, in Starlight City's Church's Guild, the fact that the guild did not accept gay players.

The Steel Hearts were the third guild to be established. Not wanting to be indebted to the government, but not wanting to follow the strict rules of the Church's Guild either, this private guild was created. Known for having been exceptionally lax when it came to what their members could and could not do, it was a popular choice for many of the younger players around the world.

After that came the Golden Dragons, a guild specifically focused on self-improvement and training rather than constantly going out and clearing dungeons.

Then the all-female Valkyries, which promised its players that they could go and do their missions without having to worry about being looked down upon by their male counterparts, and finally the Bloodletters, which were specifically a guild tailored for assassin-type players, who were often the subjects of mistrust and dealt with prejudice often due to the treacherous nature of their fighting styles.

For obvious reasons, most players nowadays were either part of a guild or were thinking of joining one. They provided a stable income and a sense of camaraderie, as being part of one made players feel like part of a community.

However, Neve, apparently, disagreed.

"Yeah," Charlotte replied to Jack as she scrolled through the thread. "After that one clip went viral, she was approached by the Valkyries. They gave her an offer, and she turned them down."

"What!?"

That was even more surprising to Jack than hearing that she was independent.

Out of all the guilds, it was well-known that the two hardest to get into were the Valkyries and the Golden Dragons. Both of them were infamous for being, essentially, only accessible through invitation rather than application, even if they publically denied that.

To get scouted out by one of these guilds was a great thing to have on a player's resume. And yet, she'd declined.

"Ahhhh, seriously! I think I'm in love, Jack!" The pink-haired woman said, hugging her phone. "She's just so fucking cool..."

"Hey, I just cleaned my counter. Don't go drooling on it."

"Agh! There has to be a way to learn a little more about her... As a person, I mean."

Jack shrugged.

"Maybe you should ask about her on the forums. She has to have some friends or something."

"You're right!"

Charlotte went to do so immediately.

Trying not to seem too desperate, she simply asked if anyone knew her on a few different guild pages. Then, she sat back and waited.

It didn't take too long to get a response.

[Huh?]

Someone on the Steel Hearts' forums responded to her.

They said:

"Neve Stephens? Yeah, we used to be classmates. Before the Unity Trials and everything."

Charlotte's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"YES!" She yelled triumphantly, raising her fists up into the air.

Jack just shook his head.

"She's going to be so creeped out if she meets you."

"Of course, not. I'm the most charming woman in Starlight City! Now, let's see what dirty little secrets we can learn about."