Chapter 3.2: Differing Views

Luna's POV

Viewing a gorgeous overview landscape after hiking in a mountainous rocky terrain or a messy ground foothold of a path would've been a neat reward for a hiker.

But now we were hiking down at the steep slope of the hill and we can see certain amount of height distance between us and the flat green ground from down below.

"The view from up here is nothing short of gorgeous from the plain flat field of green from before this, right?" Jenny asserted.

"Umm.. Jenny, you should move your feet instead of your tongue. I don't think this is the time for a subtle chitchat." I said to her

"Maybe if we could get the guys to tag along, we could have lessen our worries here." Aimee follows.

"You girls just keep talking." Andrew ends it out.

The hike down off the hill is already difficult enough, let alone without climbing gears.

Seemingly, it was windy for some reason too.

A strong gust of wind would blow into our way and next moment the wind weakens only for the strong gust to come back again back and forth.

This little weather condition, being in the forest, usually never affect players on the grand scale of the game but it is clearly working against us very effectively.

The pressure of this gust, while we're on the steep high ground, would topple us off of our footings and tumble down to a broken body.

This is why I don't like hiking.

And after a long while, when we safely stood on a flat ground, I quickly asked Andrew for clarity.

"Is the windy day usually that powerful?"

"Hmm? It's not unusual for strong winds to come around, although a gust this strong would typically be present when it rains."

"So you're saying this kind of phenomenon is radically rare for just a gust of wind. Then it's safe to assume it's windy day today."

"What do you mean by that, Luna?" Jenny asked.

I've been wondering this whole time, do these girls even have any knowledge or awareness of how to play this game.

Jenny has been the most proactive out of all of us girls so far and Aimee has this aloof gesture this whole time. While Andrew is the only one I can't get a grasp on, he's been the most attentive.

Guess I'll have to check their reactions first.

"That means we'll have additional mobs spawning on the horizon. Keep your eyes out for those." I said firmly.

"There's more unfriendly entities for just a little weather change.. ain't that just plain petty?" Jenny muttered.

"So then what do we have to watch out for?" Aimee asked next.

"Let's see.. only on the daytime forest, it would just be green and blue slimes that we already knew, there's the pinky and purple slimes that we have yet to encounter, and they are not hostile when they're unprovoked."

That's the general info many players already knew. Now I don't know what changes those developers added but I have to at least relay to them the prior information.

"But on this little weatherly occasion, dandelions would change into a lively being and spray petals that can injure us. There's also slimes that would be strapped on a balloon and casually fly along the breeze."

"A slime on a balloon?"

"Yeah. Although those developers put an overly abundant number of slimes for a good reason, it had their rewarding benefits. And they can come flying straight right us.. like that one!"

As I was about to explain things, I pointed out to them a single green slime flying with a balloon and was coming straight towards us.

"Alright, girls. These slimes aren't really all that big of a deal but you might not wanna touch them like before, or let it touch you."

I pulled out the copper shortsword and checked the stats.

===

Copper Shortsword

5 melee damage

4% critical strike chance

Very fast speed

Weak knockback

Material

===

"Why, isn't this your average everyday weapon. If only this game isn't about collecting loot." Sarcasm lingered in that comment.

I felt the wind breeze brewing mildly on the ground but I ignored it.

I slowly approach the incoming flying gelatin.

The balloon slime's flight path flew towards me but still high up in the air.

"Is that slime not going to lower itself?!" I muttered while slowing down my approach.

When the balloon slime was almost on top of me, I noticed a drop of green acid dropping in on me.

I stepped to the side and dodged it.

"What in the world?!" I was surprised.

Right on top of me, a slime poured down acid as an attack while on the air.

That was never a thing in the base game, or maybe they did and I didn't remember.

As I stepped back to not align it's attack range, Jenny spoke.

"Uhhhh... Luna. Is there something wrong?"

"No! It's nothing!"

Though I said that, with that twerp still up in the air, I can't hit it from afar.

Even if I crafted a bow, I barely have any arrows to spare. I have never fired a bow and arrow before in my life too.

I checked my inventory, I only have the 3 copper tools, 1 acorn, 3 gels, 5 wooden arrow and 30 wood.

"I barely even have anything. Though it's a good thing we chopped trees for starters."

I crafted a work bench, quickly put it down, saw the 'Benched' achievement and ignored it, and crafted a wooden sword.

===

Light Wooden Sword

7 melee damage

4% critical strike chance

Very fast speed

Average knockback

+15% speed

-10% knockback

===

Looking at the statistics of the two swords, this one had better stats and a longer reach, the other one is too short for me and too bland for a starter weapon.

"Guess I'll have to throw you away." I muttered while looking at the puny weapon.

I readied myself to throw my copper shortsword to the flying gelatin from above me.

I'm not confident in my throwing ability, but in any chance that I hit its balloon, I will make it count.

The balloon slime was tilted in its flying position to where the wind direction was blowing the breeze to our way so the slime's balloon is clearly visible on my point of view.

I took a deep breath, concentrated my sight on the balloon, and threw my copper shortsword.

I never expected it to hit but the sword's trajectory went straight through the balloon and pops it. The green slime is falling.

As it falls down, I pulled out the wooden sword. And the green slime on top of me, I point the sword towards the slime.

The green slime pierced right through the sword and its health collapsed, then turned into collectables; 1 gel, 96 copper coins.

I quickly picked it up and faced the team.

"How's that for a quick kill?"

"Yeahhh~... way to go for showing off." Jenny replied.

"Do you even have to throw out your weapon for that one slime?" Question by Aimee.

"Hey look, I'm taking what options I have, alright. Maybe if you could ask those jelly beans to let us on our way then I wouldn't even bother."

"It's a tough world out there, ladies." Andrew chimed in.

"Ugh, just... how do you turn this table back into that flat thing again, Andrew?!"

"Oh, just pick up the whole thing and squeeze it. Simple. Also take note, some of the items are not convertible like weapons."

"Mm.. that was weird."

After converting the work bench back into a pick-up item, we went on our way towards the giant living wood tree.

I felt the wind slowly dissipating but I paid no mind to it.

On the way, whenever we would encounter any mob that is in the way, would just avoid them, change directions, twist and turn until we made it safely at the destination.

With the giant tree close by, we made a small talk.

"Wow..! From far away, it stands out. Up close, this is massive! Even the trunks was bulkier than the plain ones. I was talking about the tree before anyone makes a comment." Jenny gave out her assessment.

"Vines are also dangling and swaying with the wind on the leaves and branches, moreover I think the base of the trunk has even more size compared to the original. This is surprising." I spoke my mind out.

"Can this vine carry my weight?"

Jenny then tried to grab hold of the tree vine but before she could even lift her weight up with it, it snapped off the tree and the vine phased through Jenny's hand and fall off, then slowly fades away.

"Ohh.. why that was anticlimactic. Oh well, I tried."

"Hmph, well now you can see the decision of the changes that we've made during our development of the environment. Our envisioning of this world heightens up as we develop the game in an open environment. We can't really have the old practices blend in with the new. Changes had to be made." Andrew stated in anticipation.

"... I don't know about the new and the old but seeing all of this firsthand is definitely eye-catching and I wanna post this on the social media." Excitedly expressed from Jenny

"Okay, so are we going to check this one out or are we going to keep on admiring this giant tree?" Asserted by Aimee.

Hearing Aimee, I take a look at the giant tree, walk and circled around and found no entrance.

"I found no hole to enter this thing." I spread the message to the team.

"Really? Then I guess we'll have to dug a hole wide open. Get your tools out, ladies." Uttered Jenny.

We pulled out our tools and chattered.

"Now that we've been at it for a while, what are your impressions of the surroundings?" Jenny had to say this out of the blue.

"I don't know what to say other than it's not bad." I responded mildly.

"I don't feel safe or maybe I'm not feeling good right now. I just feel so insecure right now." Aimee states her concerns.

"You girls have been taking it easy for a while now too." Andrew commented.

"You know, I sometimes forget that you're here with us, Andrew. You're usually more talkative only on the mention of this world's development." Jenny asserted.

"That's just how I am, I guess."

I noticed Jenny was staring intently at Andrew. Is she also examining him?

"Hmm, well it's fine then. Speaking of impressions, what are your thoughts on the boys' side, Luna?"

"What are you trying to say now, Jenny?"

"I'm talking about Elma. Ever since then, you just keep referring to him as jerk to him only."

"...Th-that guy?! He's infuriating! Just seeing his face reminds me of someone I didn't like!"

"Okay... I'm not going to ask you about that then. So what are your opinions about Elma? Personally, I think he's adapting the world quite well which might be for the better. He'll become an essential like you said by the time."

"What can I say about guy?! He accepted his new reality quite fast! Didn't even think twice about anything! I just don't like the idea of him taking part on this ordeal!"

"And you think that he's the one that's going to be surpass this game. Well, he might seem to have background knowledge of this world. Alright, so how about we get started chopping this--"

Just before we get started, Jenny noticed something from the sky and uttered out loud.

"What the--"

i looked up and see many balloon slime flocking around right above us.

"Since when did they--" 

Next moment, I see gel drips falling down on us.

Just before Aimee looked up too late, I jumped towards her and quickly pushed her away of the range of the attack.

After landing on my feet and noticed Jenny move out of the attack we set our sight at the balloon slimes.

"How come there are too many of them?!" Jenny shouted.

I forgot to look out for their gathering and now they're all grouped up like this.

"This is going to be a problem. We don't have a way to deal with their flying movement."

"Luna?!"

"We need something to hit them with. Jenny, do you have some spare arrows?!"

"How could I have some spare arrows?! No, I don't have any! Can't you just deal with them with your sword?

"Of course not, I can't even reach them if they're right up top!"

I looked at my wooden sword.

The weapon being held in my hand did not suit me in the slightest. If they can attack us away from our reach, they can easily wipe us all out. At this rate, we wouldn't be able to move forward, let alone fend for ourselves.

"Andrew, can you shoot those balloons?!"

"...Ehh?! D'you want me to fire at those hovering slimes?! I don't even know if I can hit them with this!"

"Just do it!"

"Okay.. as you say."

Andrew pulled out his wooden bow and arrow.

He aimed his bow at the hovering slimes and slowly pull the bowstring alongside the wooden arrow. When the bowstring hits its stretching limit, he fixes his posture and aiming before he opens fire.

The arrow flew the air in a straightforward manner and next thing missed its target.

Or more precisely, it didn't reach its target.

The trajectory falls apart in the middle of the distance between the target and the shooter and drag the arrow downwards thanks to the thing called gravity.

"That... was stupid.." Jenny remarks.

"Jeeezzz.. do we have any way to deal with them?!" I shouted at the guide.

"Who knows.. Y'all should just be getting some loot instead."

Hearing Andrew, i looked back at the living wood tree.

"Jenny, could you drill a hole at the stump, see if there's a wooden chest inside?!"

"You got it!"

Jenny pulls out a copper pickaxe under her arsenal and started picking on the bulky trunk.

While she did that, I placed down the work bench once again, scroll at the crafting menu, pick the wooden bow, and pressed at it to craft the item.

A wooden bow unveils itself to my left hand.

"Alright then, let's just hope there's a wooden chest filled with everything we need in there."

I slowly back away to get a good shot of the balloon slime hovering up above.

I touched the bowstring and an arrow magically appeared in the middle of the bow.

I got fascinated by the sudden appearance of the arrow for a moment, but I shook my head.

"I can't get distracted now."

With my fingers gripping the back arrow, then I slowly pulled the bowstring using the arrow tail with my right hand. But while pulling, it's stretching string is hard to pull and it slips out of my finger. The arrow's flight was wobbly and pathetic that it flew just a meter away in front of me.

"Shit! Don't mess it up, me!"

I quickly run up to the faltered arrow, slid it in the bow and aimed again. This time, with a proper concentration.

I stretched the bowstring back, pinching the back arrow firmly, aligning the arrowhead and set my eyesight on one of the slime's balloon. Then I let off my grip.

The wooden arrow flew appropriately this time around.

But the arrow didn't reach the target once again and falls apart midair, dragging the arrow in a downward motion.

"Damn it! I can't hit it off!"

"Don't panic now."

That voice came from the man who I asked to tag along; Andrew the Guide.

"You don't have to rush it. Those slimes are not moving fast so you have time to pull off your shot."

Now that he mentions it, the balloon slimes are not moving as quick as I thought.

He then starts counseling me about archery.

"First, have your handle of the bow, that is in your left hand, stretched far up front, and after taking out your arrow, you grab the arrow with your thumb and point finger at the feather, use your middle finger to steady the arrow, hold the tail with your palm and the bowstring should be in-between the arrow tail and your palm, then have your ring finger intertwine to the bowstring."

Listening carefully to his instructions, I did as Andrew said.

"And you pull the arrow back with your whole right arm steadily, either fast or slow is fine."

I stretched the bowstring alongside the arrow with full force steadily like he said.

"Focus your sight at the target, get your aiming adjusted, and just lightly relax both your hand and fingers, let the string fly off on its own."

While holding the wobbly stretching bow, I pointed my bow at the sight of the balloon. After the aiming adjustments, I lightly eased up my already tensed-up gripping hand and the bowstring forcefully moved off my grip.

The arrow flies away with swift and precision, there's an improvement to my archery compared to the previous shot I made.

The arrow's flight path was piercing through the air and stretches far than my last firing attempt, but barely fall short as it was just a few more inches away from reaching the slime, not the balloon.

"What the fu... how far away is that balloon slime anyway?!!"

I was happy with the little improvement on my archery but the subjugation job hasn't even landed a hit. I got irritated to the point that I almost said the F word.

"Well.. after giving off all of that archery lesson, the arrow still couldn't reach its target. That's it for the lesson."

I'm having the time of my life getting stuck at an obvious hurdle.

***

Elma, Ando, and Loki are still lying around at the green landscape under the shade of the trees.

When Loki noticed Elma's eyes wide open, he initiated a conversation.

"Hey, I think we need to have a talk."

"Hmm... What's that."

"We've been at odds with each other for a while now, especially on the girls side. We need to settle this down."

"Hey, what do you want me to do! Drop down on my knees! I may be on the wrong side but this is not right and you know that!"

"Okay look, nothing needs to be said but since we're going to be in this together, at the very least, there needs to be a settlement with everyone involved. And someone will eventually has to lead so we should be calming things down, not get into debate and argue."

Elma looks down in disdain, not very pleased hearing the curt remark.

"I don't know about you but we'll be screwed if we all stayed lik--"

"I GET IT ALREADY!!! They-- I.. ugh... Look, I'm not really fond of communicating, chatter and all that but I'll try, okay!

"Mmm, good enough."

Loki seems satisfied on seeing Elma's expression.

"Now that I think about it, you seem to be the most knowledgeable among all of us here."

"Well, I've completed this game. Dominant at that. Ando and Luna might have some ideas but I'm different from the rest."

"Okay, that's good then. Now, would you give me a little insight about this game. I only have a general idea of how this game works."

"You say that but I saw you picking on rocks just to make more arrows."

"Oh.. you aren't fully swallowed up by that state from back then, huh.. I forgot you were so attentive at times too. Well it's just basic materials that even I can easily figure out. What I'm trying to ask is about the gist of the game as a whole."

"Hmm, can you tell me anything that you remember about this game? Like your outlook of the game..."

"Let's see.. well, I remember the game was said to be notorious for being unforgiving if one doesn't know what they're doing. That's the idea I generally have but that's the gist of what I got."

"Oh, you're not wrong. It's definitely like that, an unforgiving type of game. This game is not meant to be a fun or lighthearted experience, but that's not the entire premise of it. This game was renowned to be brutal and dire, you don't turn up the difficulty mid-game, the world is like literally against you and we could get no help in here, basically we're alone in this one-sided conflict. We can only conquer the world to survive and our job was to cleanse it. There's more to this world than just that but this is how we can complete the game."

"Hang on, I thought we're meant to defeat the final boss of the game?!"

"Yes. You defeat the final boss, grab the endgame loot and then the credits roll. Yet the world was still left in turmoil. That's why you finish the world by removing the evil biomes at once."

"So in essence, we're labeled to be as the heroes in this cruel little world?"

"Labeled, yeah. Not portrayed. There's a difference between the two."

There was a sentiment between the two men and they fell both in silence.

After a while, Loki spoke once again.

"I just remembered something, the ladies just left the house with Andrew accompanying them."

"Really? Since when?"

"I don't have any idea about the time but they're out for a long while now. I think Andrew is just gonna give the girls some guidance or instructions of some kind. Guess they are trying to learn of how the world works or something.."

Elma then pondered for a moment before he stood up.

"Mm, what's up?"

"I just had a premonition. I'm gonna check up on the girls."

"Yeah, that might be for the better. They went to that line of torches over there."

"I see. Later man."

"Go get 'em, chump."

And Elma went on his way, treading towards the ladies' footsteps.

"Hope they're not having any difficulties there."

***

The group of slimes from up above are stalling in midair and are coming straight for us.

And I can't seem to reach them with my bow and arrow.

"Luna, how are you holding?!" Jenny asked as she was still drilling the tree stump.

"Not good! I'm not in range and without any wind brewing, those slimes can freely attack us any time. I can't do anything against them!"

"You don't have any plan to counteract them against?" Said Aimee while sticking close to the living wood tree.

"No!"

"Then what can we fight them with?"

Jenny and Aimee might be able to adapt playing the game overtime but this is not the most idealistic situation to be in. If Aimee still can't grasp the state we're in, I'll just point it out to her.

"In this world, you don't improve by being adept with your tools, you only get stronger by collecting stronger tier weapons. We need to seek out resources, find supplies or get better gear.. or if not, be better!"

Aimee was taken aback by my frigid statement, or maybe at my last remark.

Andrew, who's been watching me this whole time, spoke out.

"Hey, if you couldn't reach their height on the ground, how about try to elevate yourself up."

"... What?"

Hearing Andrew's notion, I was left dumbfounded and speechless. That's before Jenny finally called me.

"Luna! I broke through, and there's a chest in here!"

"Check inside it!"

As Jenny opens the chest and grab hold of its goods and items, I was anticipating a good response while openly diverting the balloon slimes around the living wood tree.

"Uhh, Luna..."

"What?! There better be something good in there!"

"Umm... so, I got; 10 torches, 3 grenades, 2 night owl potions, 7 lesser healing potions, 4 recall potions, 8 tin bars, 30 wooden arrows, 28 silver coins, 68 copper coins and uhhh.."

Jenny pulled out an item, holding it in her hand.

"This book thing called Violent Guide To Plant Fiber Cordage."

"Hohh.. thank goodness for the extra arrows.. wait, what's that book thing you mentioned?!"

I quickly went up to her and just took the item holding in her hand.

"... This is.. an item used for turning vines into a USABLE ROPE!! HOW IS THIS THING STILL in the.... hang on.."

This very item that only has one use might be able to help me in this situation.

I take my eyes directed at the interface, specifically the equipment section on the bottom right corner of my peripheral vision.

I put this book-like accessory item to the accessory slot.

Then I shifted my gaze at the tree vines.

I fired one arrow at the top of the vine. and the vines got replaced into a flat space pixel-ish pickup item. and I quickly picked it up. I managed to get 14 vines.

I turned my gaze back to the interface, crafted a vine rope coil and immediately threw it at the closest living wood tree branch.

The coil connected and was dangling with albeit slightly, perhaps the vine rope now has a weight in it and barely sways.

"Now I have a way up towards those hovering gelatins. Jenny, pass me the extra arrows!"

"Right.. Here you go!"

After receiving the arrows from Jenny, I quickly climbed up to the living wood tree branch with my bare hands and get more vines in the branch for more rope. I collected for about 40 vines, good enough to get to the balloon slimes' height point using the living wood tree as a foothold.

After collecting vines, connecting vine ropes to the branches, and elevating myself up to reach the slimes height reach, I finally reached the height level of the balloon slimes.

Looking down below me, the height is at the very least 50 feet above the ground.

"Took me a while just to reach you sneaky gelatins, but here I am! Fall down to your death!"

I then proceeded to shoot the balloons the slimes are riding on.

One by one, balloon pops and goes, and slimes fall to their doom.

However, I forgot about the most crucial thing.

Upon this late realization, when all the balloon slimes are not in the air anymore, I quickly checked up on the team.

"LUNA!! DON'T GET THE SLIMES TO SURROUND US!!"

Hearing Jenny's yell, I went pale.

Fall damage doesn't work on mobs.

How could I forget something so simple and crucial. My irritation has reached my mindset and prevented me from thinking straight.

"Never mind that! I need to get down there and help them out!"

But when I looked at the frighteningly height level down, my legs felt weak.

"No.. nonono!! Ahh FUCK!! I CAN'T GET DOWN!!"

I was not in a proper state to deal with the current circumstances.

The girls are getting surrounded by the aggressive slimes and they didn't have fighting tools to begin with, they barely even have any knowledge about the game from what I observed.

Andrew also uses a bow so he would be helpless if he were to get surrounded by too many mobs with a weak weapon.

Are they going to die because of my wrong judgement?

Just as I was about to contemplate, I hear swift slice noises from down below.

When I checked to see what it was, I see another human figure swiftly grazing and slicing the slimes with ease.

It was Elma the Jerk.

One by one, he comes across a slime and swings his copper shortsword nice and quick.

Watching him do his thing was a sight to behold, like he has been doing the subjugation his whole life.

After killing the last slime, he then interacted with the team.

"That was a close call. Glad I was able to catch up with you guys."

"Yeah, it was a nice timing too. Glad we didn't ended up dying early in here." Jenny replied.

"Hmm.. Andrew.. you really did come along."

"Yeah. Well someone's gotta give advices to novices, or maybe just be there with them for additional manpower." Andrew responded in kind.

"Right.. by the way, is someone's missing?"

"Ahh, she is right up in the tree over that branch." Aimee then pointed to my direction.

I hide in the leaves in shame, not wanting to let him see me in a pathetic state. When Elma spotted me, he calls out to me.

"Hey lady! Can you get down from over there?!"

"Yeah yeah! I'll be there in a sec!!"

***

Andrew was watching the ladies with full attention while not letting the girls know.

As he carefully observed the team, he whispered to himself.

"I wonder... if they will be able to make it?"