*>Vadium: Damn, she split from us. But it's fortunate that we're still together.*
*>Euphrates: Right? Judging by her mannerisms as a party leader, I thought she was fairly capable. I had some countermeasures prepared, but looks like it was for nothing.*
*>Vadium: No, it was still a good idea. We got lucky that those two showed up.*
*>Euphrates: Yeah.*
Hearth Ember's intuition was right - Euphrates and his friend Vadium indeed had malicious intentions. The two were planning to sabotage the hunt, but with Hearth Ember's weariness, they weren't sure if they'd be able to pull it off.
However, when Abandoned Snow and Fae Sol showed up, Hearth Ember's wariness vanished. Apparently, reuiniting with her sister seriously distracted her. And now, the two were practically alone.
From how Abandoned Snow and Hearth Ember spoke to each other, Euphrates deduced Fae Sol wasn't a close friend of theirs like Icurus was. So, being alone with her was the best-case scenario. If they had asked to go alone, Hearth Ember would have immediately been reminded of their suspicious behavior.
If Hearth Ember's group found the magma slime first, there was nothing they could do about it. However, if *they* found it first...
*>Euphrates: We're taking all of it for ourselves, right?*
In other words, they would have to kill Fae Sol. A two-way XP split would natrually be worth more than a three-way split.
*>Vadium: Yeah, but can you even deal with her?*
Vadium wasn't blind - he'd been monitoring Fae Sol's behavior. Though she didn't kill *every* mob she saw, her accuracy thus far was 100%. Was she leaving some alive on purpose, or did she only take shots she was 100% confident to hit?
Euphrates knew he was at a disadvantage when he saw this accuracy. Throwing something with 100% accuracy from that distance was extremely difficult.
But what about the skill "Target Toss"? Even though it was an ability that guaranteed a hit a specific location, it still took time for the pellet, a projectile, to fly through the air. If you couldn't lead your shots properly, you wouldn't even be able to hit a straight-moving target. Fae Sol demonstrated she was familiar with not only the pellet's projectile speed, but the effect of gravity on it as well.
The throw of pellets was aided by the system - you didn't have to use much force to send it flying. Euphrates even witnessed Fae Sol flick the pellets in a strange manner; she was getting an absurd amount of speed on her shots with minimal movement.
As someone who didn't play in the beta, he wasn't familiar with Synergy's mechanics yet. Fae Sol... was. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was simply outclassed.
*>Euphrates: Obviously not alone. But there shouldn't be a problem 2-on-1.*
*>Vadium: Ha, didn't think our school's "darts god" would admit defeat so easily.*
Euphrates wanted to roll his eyes in annoyance, but he stopped himself.
*>Euphrates: She's a beta player, remember? Obviously she's more familiar with this game than I am. But it won't take me long to get used to this.*
All he needed was a little practice. However, to practice, he needed practice targets. And right now...
*Whzzz...*
Two pellets whizzed by Euprates' ear and clocked a dragonfly square in its abdomen.
*-10*
*-10*
When the second pellet connected, the bug dissipated into a bundle of XP.
How was he supposed to find practice targets with this inconvenience?
As noted earlier, she wasn't killing *every* mob, but Euphrates wanted to show off his skills as his school's "darts god" as quickly as possible. And to do that, he needed all the practice he could get!
"Hey, can you stop?" he aggressively asked.
"Hmm? Stop what?"
"Stop taking all the kills."
"I'm only taking the ones you're not targeting. Don't worry about me."
What? Didn't she know what she was doing here? Apparently, he had to spell it out for her.
"You're clearly hogging all the XP."
"You think I'm stealing your kills?"
*>Euphrates: Back me up here, Vlad.*
*>Vadium: ... Fine...*
"Obviously. Did you just think we'd sit quietly and let this happen?"
With that, Fae Sol sank back into silence.
*>Euphrates: Wow, you're a menace.*
*>Vadium: I didn't expect it to work, either.*
Several more mobs cropped up, but Fae Sol didn't take any action. It was peaceful, and it was Euphrates' time to shine!
*>Name: Living Grass*
*>Level: 3*
A thick wall of grass about 1 metron high threatened to lash out. With the target in his sights, Euphrates launched his weapon!
*>Vadium: Hahahaha man you seriously missed that big of a target?*
The pellet flew wide right hitting nothing but air.
Though he was annoyed at his friend's taunts, Euphrates focused up and launced another one forward. This time, he wasn't going to miss!
*-7*
*>Euphrates: Shit, how much HP does it have left?*
*>Vadium: Good question...*
If you appraised a mob, it would only show you its name and level by default. The two didn't realize it yet, but a basic appraisal item was required to view other stats like HP and MP.
The only thing Euphrates could do was launch another pellet and hope for the best.
*-9*
Even with this second shot, the mob didn't die. Euphrates was about to launch a third shot, but they were now in melee range. Vadium stepped up and swung his sword...! Well, it was an extremely dull "sword", but that's how he treated it.
*-10*
Finally, the living grass withered away.
*>Vadium: Man, you suck.*
*>Euphrates: This is harder than it looks, okay? All you have to do is walk up and whack it. Meanwhile, I'm required to calculate vectors to even be remotely useful.*
*>Vadium: Man, why you gotta bring up math when we're playing a game? What a buzzkill.*
While the two bantered, another mob entered their sights.
*>Name: Young Clay Doll*
*>Level: 2*
It was 1 metron tall and shaped like a bell. A bit of a smaller target, but Euphrates wasn't going to miss this time! He used his ability "Target Toss" and struck the immobile clay... thing. If he missed an immobile target with an ability that guaranteed to hit, he wouldn't be qualified to be called his school's "darts god"!
*-10*
Now that this skill was on cooldown for 5 seconds, he manually fired his next shot.
*-10*
Another direct hit! Yet, the monster was still alive.
*>Vadium: Looks like this one's a little tankier than normal.*
*>Euphrates: Yeah...*
*>Vadium: I'll finish it off.*
Vadium stepped up to swing his sword again, but before his weapon reached its target...
*-10*
The clay doll exploded into white light right in front of their eyes...
"Are you kidding me?"
Vadium was furious, and Euphrates instantly knew who the culprit was. After all, the source of the final tick of damage was a pellet that whizzed from behind him again.
"What are you doing??" Euphrates asked as he looked at Fae Sol. Though they had accused her of kill stealing earlier, it was only to make her stop shooting. Now, however, it was a genuine offense.
"Hmm... what do you mean?" Fae Sol nonchalantly toyed with a pellet in her hands looking completely clueless.
Euphrates grew upset at this farce. "What do you mean 'what do you mean'? You really stole our kill this time!"
"Oh? I 'really' did? So that means you falsely accused me last time, right?"
"???"
What did last time have to do with this? Now, she was just straight up admitting it!
"If you steal kills, you probably won't get to join many parties in the future."
"Thanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind," she said as she launched another pellet.
*-10*
While Euphrates was berating her, Vadium had been fighting another mob. Yet, this pellet struck before he could finish it off. In other words... another blatant kill-steal.
What the heck? She'd been so obedient until now. Neither of the two friends could understand Fae Sol's change in attitude. If possible, they wanted to rid themselves of this annoyance.
*>Euphrates: Fae Sol's kill-stealing from us. Can we kick her out?*
This message was sent in the party chat, so all 6 party members saw it.
*>Abandoned Snow: Wwwwwwwwwwwwwww*
*>Hearth Ember: That's regrettable, but you three probably need to work together to take out the magma slime. It'll be troublesome for only two of you. If you want, we can try to join back up. Where are you?*
Joining back up was the worst-case scenario. Not only would their XP be split 6 ways, they wouldn't be able to get their hands on the magma slime's loot.
*>Vadium: Don't worry about it, we've got it under control.*
*>Hearth Ember: Hm... Alright.*
This was troublesome. If what Hearth Ember said was true, they couldn't kill Fae Sol. After all, how were they going to collect the loot if they died first? On the other hand, they weren't receiving much XP anyway due to her persistent kill steals.
*>Vadium: You think we should get rid of her?*
*>Euphrates: ... Just bear it for now. The magma slime's probably worth more than the useless mobs she's stealing from us anyway.*
The silver lining here was that Fae Sol wasn't stealing *every* kill, so they were still getting something out of this.
*>Euphrates: But we will get rid of her eventually. It'll be simple. We'll do it like this...*
---
*>Inventory:*
*>Ranged+ Pellet: 33*
As much as she wanted to, Jisha wasn't allowed to kill every mob she saw. If the magma slime had around 200 HP like Hearth Ember said, she would have to save at least 20 ammo against it.
The good news was, kill-stealing from Vadium and Euphrates actually allowed her to save ammo. They would whittle the mobs down, and she would only need one shot to take it out. On top of this, she only targeted the ones that looked the most valuable.
*Quite a bountiful clearance sale here.*
XP was being sold for a third of its original price? Count her in!
*32... 31... Let's stop at 30.*
She stopped firing when she had 30 pellets remaining - it would be safe as long as the slime had under 300 HP. Jisha trusted Hearth Ember's judgement - if Hearth Ember said it would have around 200 HP, it definitely wouldn't have over 300 HP.
Naturally, when she stopped firing, the two in front of her were a bit confused. However, they weren't complaining. After all, they were free to grind without being stolen from!
After several more minutes of searching, they came across a clearing in the forest. This landscape was slightly different than the one they'd been walking through, so the trio was naturally curious.
This clearing was similar in appearance to the plains they'd seen in the very beginning of the game; lush green grass grew with several wildflowers sprinkled in the midst. However, there was one key difference Jisha immediately noticed.
Towards their right, smooth stone coated the ground.
*Extrusive igneous rock?*
Igneous rock was a type of rock that formed from "frozen" magma/lava. When magma or lava cooled near or above the surface, it was further reduced into a subtype known as "extrusive". Since the rock coated the ground and was glassy and "bubbly", it was likely a product of frozen lava.
Were they close to their target?
Jisha walked towards the stone-coated ground, and once she was 15 metron away, the answer revealed itself.
Slowly, the smooth stone began to crack. Like glass that was about to break, the crack crawled across the surface. A hint of red and orange leaked through, and a small wave of heat struck the three players.
A bit of red-orange oozed through, and the cracks shattered to reveal what they'd been after this whole time. The mass of red-orange crawled out of its rocky pit.
*>Name: Magma Slime*
*>Level: 5*
Though it was called "slime", it wasn't neatly spherical and monochromatic like the green ones Jisha had encountered with Abandoned Snow. It was more like an amorphous solid that stretched and contracted however it pleased.
Its colors were spotty as well. Though most of its body was a red-orange like standard lava, bits and pieces of it were covered in gray rock.
And though it was only level 5, it was clear this mob was different from everything else they'd found so far.
If they were an ordinary party, some communication was in order here. However, the two friends remained silent this entire time. They were honestly terrible at this - even Abandoned Snow would have found something suspicious by now.
Jisha didn't know what they were going to do, but it was obvious they were about to do *something*.
Footsteps rustled in the grass behind her. She turned around to find Vadium attempting to sneak up on her.
*... Real smooth, guys.*
They were clearly found out, but Vadium attempted to nonchalantly waltz forward as if nothing happened.
"So... You got a plan?" he awkwardly asked.
Jisha was dumbfounded - this guy was even terrible at acting!
This entire time, the magma slime had been crawling towards them. It wasn't going to wait for a couple of players to finish a conversation.
She was looking away from it, but her ears still worked. At the low levels, monsters wouldn't silently attack. The magma slime emitted a *WHOOSH* that sounded like a gas fire starting - it instantly alerted her. A small fireball was headed directly towards them!
Jisha stepped to the side as the fireball passed her. And behind her...
"Whoa!" Euphrates exclaimed in surprise, and the lava sizzled as it brushed his arm.
*-17*
At the lower levels, stat increases per level were extremely small. So even though Euphrates and Vadium were level 3, their HP pool was only slightly higher than that of a level 1. In other words, the extremely indirect hit Euphrates suffered indicated that a singular direct hit would prove fatal.
"Yeah, here's the plan," Jisha said as she patted Vadium's shoulder. "Hold the front line as a melee, alright?"
---
*>Euphrates: You idiot!*
Euphrates' "plan" was immediately ruined. They were going to kill Fae Sol by pushing her into one of the monster's attacks. Ideally, he wanted to do it when her HP was already reduced. But when he felt the heat radiating from the magma slime, he concluded that simply touching it would deal massive damage. However, Vadium already screwed up.
"Wha-"
Vadium wanted to object, but what was he going to do now? Fae Sol had already retreated to the back line and was likely wary that they were up to something. They were going to have to find another way to get rid of her.
Meanwhile, the slime extended a part of itself, almost like it was generating an arm. And with this "arm", it swung itself towards its nearest target!
"Ugh..."
*-2*
Vadium dodged, but barely. Even though he didn't get hit, the heat from being so close to lava scraped a bit of HP off him.
*>Vadium: You gonna help me or what?*
Euphrates clicked his tongue in annoyance. Though they wanted to get rid of the extra player, the magma slime was their priority. What sort of item would it drop? How much XP would it give? There was only one way to find out.
A three-player party was likely needed to secure the kill, so regrettably, Fae Sol's help was required. As much as it pained him, Euphrates forced himself to speak up.
"Alright, Fae, let's take this thing down......?"
She was gone.
Last time he saw her, she was right next to him. She'd disappeared in the brief moment he was focused on the slime's movements. Did she chicken out?
"Hey, keep your eyes on the target," a girl's voice called from above him.
Euphrates was bewildered to hear something from this direction. He turned around and looked up to find Fae Sol... sitting in a tree? How did she even get up there?
"... What are you doing? Let's take this thing out."
Euphrates was truly baffled as to why she would do this. Two players vs the magma slime was already a risky endeavour, yet Fae Sol wanted to kick back and relax?
"And what are *you* doing? Turn around!"
Euphrates had a gut feeling something was wrong, and he turned around to find a fireball right in his face! He tried to dodge, but it was too late.
*-88*
"Agh...!"
Pain in Synergy was drastically reduced, but extreme heat was one of the most painful things one could experience. Even though the attack didn't hurt, it was still extremely uncomfortable.
It was a miracle he hadn't died - his HP was in the single digits. Fortunately, they'd come prepared. Euphrates snagged a health potion from his inventory and chugged it as quickly as possible.
Slowly but surely, his HP regenerated to about a third.
Euphrates glared at Fae Sol, and she gave a small smile in return.
Frustration took hold. He wanted to kill her this instant! However, he had to focus on the task at hand.
*>Hearth Ember: You guys found it?*
As a party, every member had access to everyone else's level and HP. Hearth Ember clearly saw the fluctuations in HP and accurately guessed that they'd located their target.
*>Fae Sol: Yeah, we did. We'll take it out, easy.*
Easy??? She was leaving them out to dry yet had the gall to say she had it easy?
Euphrates didn't even know what to say. All he could do was focus on dodging the fireballs that were coming at him. With this thing's damage, one more hit, and he was toast.
He had to focus! He couldn't let frustration throw him off the rails.
Vadium, on the other hand, was doing alright. He still hadn't been directly hit, but his HP was slowly whittling away. He'd seen how much damage a single attack did, so he was pushing himself to the limit just to dodge. The slime would not only swipe at him, but occasionally try to body slam him as well. It was a miracle he'd even dodged the first body slam.
Since he'd been fighting this entire time, Vadium got a handle on the slime's attack patterns. He was confident enough to hold his own for a while.
And since the fireball looked to be its only ranged attack, Euphrates quickly learned what he needed to do as well.
*-10*
*-2*
*-7*
*-7*
...
Little by little, they shaved away at the boss' HP. They got into a rhythm - since they were comfortable with the boss' movements, the road ahead of them was smooth.
But... How long was this road?
*-5*
*-9*
*-8*
...
Neither of them knew how much HP they'd shaved off, nor did they know how much HP the boss had remaining. No matter how smooth of a road they walked, without an end in sight, they were bound to falter.
Vadium was the first to taste fatigue.
"Ow!"
His mind wandered for a brief moment: the wrong moment.
*-33*
The slime's swipe clipped his torso. He managed to avoid a direct hit, but even this was deadly since his HP was already being whittled down from the slime's heat. Now, both of their HPs were under a third.
The hit was akin to a slap on his face - Vadium was wide awake. But how long would it be before the monotony lulled him again?
Euphrates was also experiencing this combination of boredom and fatigue. He didn't know how much longer they had, and something was definitely wrong.
*>Vadium: Wasn't this thing only supposed to have around 200 HP?*
They had hit this thing over 20 times, right? Probably? Neither of them kept track. All of their recent actions coalesced into a single unmemorable blur. How much time had passed? It was only a little bit, right? Or was it longer?
*>Euphrates: Damn, we can't keep this up for much longer.*
"Fae Sol, dammit! Help us!"
They didn't have the luxury to attempt to kill the nuisance. It still pained him to ask for help from someone they were planning on getting rid of, but they were out of options.
But... he didn't receive a response.
What the hell was she doing? He couldn't look back as the monster began launching attacks at an increased rate.
*>Vadium: What? Why does this thing have a second phase???*
Something was clearly wrong with the information they received. It was only supposed to have around 200 HP. It was supposed to be a 'rare monster', but not a true 'boss'. Yet, this monster had a second phase. Had they been tricked?
*>Euphrates: Hearth Ember, you scammed us!*
Euphrates vented his frustrations in the party chat.
*>Hearth Ember: What do you mean?*
*>Vadium: We've definitely dealt over 200 damage at this point, but we've only entered its second phase.*
*>Hearth Ember: Second phase?? What?*
*>Euphrates: Ahhhh don't 'what' me!! We're really gonna die out here!*
*>Hearth Ember: I'm serious... in the beta, it only had 200 HP as a rare monster.*
*>Fae Sol: And you all assumed it was going to be the same as the beta?*
...
Euphrates was about to reach his breaking point. Not only was Fae Sol not helping them, but she was taunting them as she watched...
"Yeah, it's over," Vadium called from the front line. In this second phase, the slime simply got hotter, and its "damage over time" increased repectively. It didn't even matter if he could dodge every attack; he would simply die from the heat.
Euphrates realized this as well. There was no point continuing the hunt.
*>Euphrates: ... Retreat.*
*>Vadium: Thanks, genius.*
Vadium didn't need to be told what to do. He turned tail and ran. But before he could get very far...
*-72*
The slime emitted a flamethrower-like attack. It wasn't close-range like the swipes and body slams, and it wasn't long-range like a fireball. It caught him off guard - it was the first time they were seeing this attack... and it would likely be the last.
The red flames consumed Vadius as he, just like the many monsters they'd confronted thus far, dissipated into a pool of white light.
"Dammit...!"
Euphrates booked it as well. There was nothing to accomplish here anymore. The best case scenario now was escaping without getting hit again!
He ran to take cover behind the nearest tree. But before he reached it, the slime emitted the telltale sound of a fireball being launched. This was expected - the fireball was its long-ranged attack. He turned around to dodge it, but this fireball was much faster than the ones from before. It was almost like he was relieving his earlier mistake.
He wasn't going to die like this!
He used all of his focus - mind and body - to push himself out of the way. And...
*-22*
Yes! He did it! He was alive! Once again, his HP was in the single digits. Yet, he was alive. Now, all he had to do was make it back to the Evon Hamlet to recover.
He was home free. If he saw Hearth Ember again, he and Vlad were going to give her a piece of their-
*-10*
Huh?
His screen turned gray. What did he get hit by? He looked around to locate the culprit.
If you died in Synergy, you had to wait out a death timer before you could respawn. During this time, you could only remain in the spot you died as a spirit. You could not interact with the world, but you could still observe it.
In the low levels, the death timer was so short that it was practically irrelevant. In fact, Euphrates was already free to respawn. But he wanted to know what killed him!
He turned around. And when he saw it, he felt dumb. It should have been obvious. Why did he have to see it to believe it?
Fae Sol was hanging from a tree branch upside down.
They were planning on eliminating her and taking the rewards for themselves, but the tables had turned. She grimly smiled as if to say, "What the hell were you guys thinking?" She jumped to the ground, and with a smooth parkour roll, she mitigated all fall damage.
She didn't look back.
Euphrates sighed. Did they bring this upon themselves, or could they have come up with a better plan? He wasn't sure, but what was done was done. Regretfully, he chose to respawn back at Evon.
---
Jisha was grateful for Vadium and Euphrates' contribution to the boss fight. As she watched them fight, she counted the amount of damage they dealt. It totaled to 477, yet the magma slime still stood strong. If she tried to take care of it herself, she would have run out of ammunition in a heartbeat.
*Looks like Ember was wrong.*
The party chat, especially Hearth Ember, was exploding now that two of the three players of the strike force were downed. Jisha just ignored it.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Hearth Ember. It was simply that the release version of the game was bound to have some differences from the beta, and Hearth Ember failed to consider this. But, it didn't really matter. Jisha had her own way to kill this thing.
From watching the fight, she had a good idea of all of the slime's attack patterns. This naturally included the fireball's range.
*Hmmm... Here should be good.*
Jisha stood just over 30 metron away from the slime. From here, she unleashed a barrage of pellets.
*-10*
*-10*
*-9*
*-10*
...
It didn't take long for her to exhaust her 30 ammo.
*776 damage...*
The only thing that changed about the slime was that it seemed even angrier than before.
*... Third phase?*
Now, it was angrily firing laser beams and fireballs in random directions.
Jisha frowned. If what Hearth Ember said about the beta was accurate, this slime had become a completely different monster!
*What a pain...*
She was out of ammo, but she still had another weapon in her inventory.
*>Inventory:*
*>Melee Starter Stick: 2*
It was time to display the utility of the starter weapon!
Starter weapons had unique properties that were not replicated by any other items in the game. First, they only dealt between 1 and 5 HP of damage no matter what. You could use it as a level 0, or you could use it as a Tier 9, and the result would be the same.
Secondly... they were practically indestructible. Every item in Synergy had a durability. That is, every item except Starter ones.
The only thing that bugged Jisha was...
*It's melee... bleh.*
It wasn't only that she disliked melee weapons - there was another problem.
*-2*
*-1*
*-1*
*-2*
...
If you used a weapon that didn't match your class, your damage output would be halved.
*This isn't going to get me anywhere.*
After whacking it some more, Jisha had only raised the damage total from 776 to 801. Not only was hitting this blob for 1 damage per shot was an extreme waste of time, but the heat of the slime whittled her HP.
*Let's try something else.*
She wasn't sure if this was going to work, but it was worth a shot.
At melee range, the slime was only firing its lava laser beams. Her plan relied on the long-range attack: the fireball. So, she backed up until she was at the appropriate range.
*WHOOSH*
At the 10 metron mark, the slime finally fired a fireball.
*Alright, batter up... I guess?*
Jisha held the Melee Starter Stick like a baseball bat, and she carefully observed the fireball approaching her. After confirming that its trajectory was steady, she waited for the fireball to arrive.
*And... now!*
A swing, and... a hit!
*-57*
The "fireball" wasn't made of 100% gaseous fire; the center was actually solid. Whether it was lava or solid rock was difficult to determine, but the point was it could be struck with a solid object!
*Nice. Honestly, I would have been a bit creeped out if the lava monster wasn't shooting lava...*
With this strategy, this hunt would become many times more efficient.
*Not dying to the aura damage is a nice bonus, too.*
*-39*
*-53*
*-60*
*-44*
...
Before long, the magma slime finally bit the dust.
*>System message: Level up!*
*>Name: Fae Sol*
*>Level: 2 -> 5 (+3)*
...
Seeing a multi-level-up was unheard of in Synergy's late game, so seeing this notification made Jisha's heart flutter with excitement.
Three whole levels!
The boss that was meant to be killed by multiple players had been solo'd... kind of. And, it was of a higher level. On top of this, leveling up in the early game was extremely easy. It would have been more of a surprise if she *didn't* gain multiple levels.
And, as a bonus, you would undergo a "full heal" upon leveling up. HP and MP would be restored, and all status effects, regardless of whether they were negative or positive, would be removed. So the HP loss Jisha suffered from the slime's heat aura was instantly healed.
*Alright, what's Ember after?*
*>+2 Shard of Heat*
*>+500 Copper*
*Oh?*
The cash was nice, but what truly caught her eye were the shards that dropped.
Shards were solid items. They were prevalent throughout the entire game, so they would never become useless. They could be fused to create more powerful shards, and they were often used to upgrade equipment. A shard this early in the game was undoubtedly valuable.
Jisha captured a snapshot and sent the image in the party chat. She didn't bother reading the drama that was occurring and messaged Hearth Ember directly.
*>Fae Sol: Where should we meet up?*
Items couldn't just be mailed through the ether, so the two would have to physically meet in the game to exchange items. The location wouldn't matter as long as it was agreed upon by both parties.
*>Hearth Ember: ... You really killed it?*
*>Fae Sol: No, I just found these shards in a tree.*
*>Hearth Ember: ...*
*>Fae Sol: So where are we meeting?*
*>Hearth Ember: Let's just go with Evon Hamlet. It's probably the nearest settlement, anyway.*
*>Fae Sol: Sounds good. Right now, I'm about a 7 minutes' walk due northwest of where we split. You have a map, right? Which way should I go?*
Coordinate systems didn't exist yet, so this was the only way to "coordinate" direction. Both of their maps would have the location at which they split, and their walking speed was the same. Judging by how far one party had walked, they could deduce the location of the other.
*>Hearth Ember: 5 minutes' walk, vector 195. I assume you understand what this means since you played the beta?*
*>Fae Sol: Yep. See you there.*
Hearth Ember was already showing off her in-game knowledge. She accurately deduced Jisha's location and gave her the correct directions... probably. Jisha obviously trusted Hearth Ember's skill - if she wasn't who she was, how could she have been one of the first players to reach Tier 7?
Jisha sprinted in the direction she was given - vector 195. On the map, "vectors" indicated a direction with a number that referenced degrees on a circle. Vector 000 was due east whereas vector 180 was due west. So, vector 195 was slightly south of due west. And since stamina didn't exist yet, Jisha sprinted full speed the entire way without even raising her heart rate.
In well under 5 minutes, she stumbled upon a settlement.
*>System message: Welcome to Evon Hamlet.*
*Perfect.*
Now, she had some time to kill.
*Hmm... This is probably the perfect chance to evolve my class again.*
She was now level 5 which meant she could tackle another class evolution quest. By the time she was done, Hearth Ember would likely arrive at Evon.
*>System message: Class evolution requirements met. Evolve class?*
*>Yes/No*
*Yes!*
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