The World of a Fantasy

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: Where Are You?

Was it just a dream?

He was about to log out of the game and during those final seconds, he saw the unbelievable thing appearing right before his eyes. John's excited state did not allow his mind to process and it was as if he was in a dream. Right, just a dream, but it did not matter. Likewise, he hurried logged back into the game again just for another glimpse of her.

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[Welcome user: Extremity]

Right before his very own eyes, he saw the new town along with the cobbled roads and houses made of stones and wood. Players are roaming everywhere and 'she' is nowhere to be found. Non-playable characters are also everywhere interacting with players, vendors, and bargaining. The marketplace was a mess and the cobbled road was filled and the vision was barely noticeable. As for him, he was exactly where he had logged out.

he exclaimed out loud without caring for the passersby, "Sara (Hart)! Where are you!?" Some players were making jokes about him while some admired his way of speech. As for others, they did not give him a dime.

It was at this moment, from the corner of his eyes, that he saw her again. Although he was just a shadowy figure among the crowd creeping out of the massive gate. He did not care about the onlookers, he swiftly made his way through the crowd by push or by pull. Like so, many players did complain about his actions and also his intimacy with some of the NPC was reduced to 'unfriendly' as well during his parade through the crowd. Even with the voice of complaint, he did not care and swiftly continued to the gate of the town.

By the time he made his way through the crowd to the gate, he could barely see her faint figure over yonder. Without any hesitation, he ran with all of his might. Only now did he know the pain of slowness and the powerless movement speed compared to his old status. He wished that he could just move a bit faster, just a frustrating bit faster. However, with his current pathetic status. He knew that he could not effectively catch up with her with his current movement speed.

Seeing that the distances became even more distant, he madly inserted all of his status points into one of the base statuses. A full forty-five points into speed, the status points boost to speed had increased his movement speed, though not by a lot, it is apparent. However, even with the boost, he could barely catch up with his current movement speed.

If observed from the top view, the two seem to be two little ants running in a peculiar line and both seem to be slowly closing in on their distances. It was especially much harder since the first in front was also casting skill to boost her speed by ten percent right after receiving a call from another player. Just the ten percent increase in movement speed completely changes everything. Even so, he did not give up and ran with all of his might. The marathon between the two went on for ten minutes before a new situation came up.

They are both now edging on a forest front and the situation does not seem to have any advantages for him. He begins to worry about losing sight of her in the forest. However, even with the forest front on, he quickly adapts to the change in environment and quickly shortens the distance little by little. The chase continued and by the time he noticed, the chase had already exceeded thirty minutes and the forest seemed to get denser and denser as time went by. For a moment, he lost sight of her because he had encountered a level twenty-five tiger.

The tiger was a male and was much bigger than a normal tiger. The tiger was an uncommon elite mob and the elite mob is much harder to defeat since their health is off the chart compared to a normal tiger. He did not have time for this elite tiger, but the elite tiger was relentless since he had entered the elite tiger's aggro zone. He had to bypass the elite tiger so he could catch up to her and give little notice to the elite tiger. However, as an approaching player in the aggro zone of the elite tiger, he was unlikely to bypass the elite tiger.

An elite tiger is roughly twice as fast as a normal tiger mob, which is why he is in a pickle. He had no choice, but to fight off the elite tiger, since the elite tiger would be much faster. Unlike his usual calm fighting style, he traded blows for blows with no concern about how much health he would lose. Since he is not just randomly swinging his basic sword with no thoughts. He precisely aimed for the joints and especially the backbone of the tiger since that is one core weakness for most beast-type monsters. The trading of blows lasts for roughly a minute and with a final c***k, the backbone of the elite tiger finally collapses along with injuries to the joints and limbs. This will cripple the tiger permanently unless it eats a precious healing treasure.

He did not care to finish off the elite tiger before making his way forward. He knew that he would not have a chance now that there was interference. However, he did not give up hope and continued to follow her through the faint tracks on the muddy and leafy ground that she had left behind due to her lack of experience. Later in the game, leaving such tracks will be very dangerous, because the hunter class will be able to use a tracking skill. This is why leaving such tracks will be deadly, since an ambush is always a possibility.

Even so, he continues with the hope that he will be able to see her closer and talk to her. His desperation to just meet her may have been born from his current situation and through his dream. However, the track ends when he reaches a specially hidden cave. The track just ended there and left him panting for breath. He was extremely disappointed to miss just the chance of meeting her again and it was all due to the elite tiger that he had encountered along the way.

However, it was not without any hope. The footprints ended right in front of the cave there and then. She must have logged off a while ago for some reason and if his guess is right, then she must have been in a rush for something. Without a plan, he had decided to wait in this spot with crossed fingers and hope that he would be able to meet her when she logged in again. And so, he waited on top of a big nearby rock that gave him a view of the cave entrance. Thus, end chapter nine.