Damsels in Distress

Blake feel the fire of vengeance burning inside of him, he was smiling along the way thinking of what he would do to that disrespectful monkey-like creature. Even the thought inside his head puts a smile on his face.

In his mind he has become creative, developing plans to punish that disrespectful creature.

Although she already knows that making Blake riled up is quite easy, she was still baffled by the pettiness he has to make him this motivated in paying back the monkey-like creature for throwing shit at him.

Even his evil thoughts are depicted by him rubbing his hands together mischievously.

"We should've spent our time searching for other mobs or even training you know, this petty revenge will not get you anywhere. It's not going to achieve anything aside from a temporary satisfaction"

"Shut up, you're lucky that you don't have any physical body, or else you'll be pissed as well"

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to stop him, she decided to let him do this.

About thirty minutes later, Blake and Salana have been walking through the forest for half an hour before their eyes catch a glimpse of another glade. It's the place where the fruit that the money-like creatures really want is located.

It's a fruit that sprouted underwater, and Blake needs to get it.

Since the monkey-like creatures can't swim, they are not actively searching for this fruit.

But if there's even the slightest bit of chance where they can get their hands on one, the monkey-like creatures would definitely not hesitate and seize that rare chance immediately.

Nearing the glade, the sound of splashing water can already be heard.

Eventually, when his foot stepped out of the forest and enters into this spacious open place, Blake's eyes marveled at the flowing river that has its water clear blue and even glittering with lights.

Compared to the dark and shadowy forest, the river is a new fresh sight.

Blake can feel the aura coming from the river is akin to knowing that tomorrow is a national holiday despite the hectic reality of the office days, the sensation is unparalleled, and he somewhat longed for this sight.

Going to the river, he went to all four and look at his reflection on the surface of the water.

'It seems like my avatar is really similar to me, aside from the fangs, wider frame, and pale skin, I looked practically the same. Will this be a problem in the future...?' Blake thought, but he quickly shrugs that thoughts away.

Scooping a handful of water, he washes his face and instantly feels refreshed.

While he was doing this Salana can only sit in the corner with immense depression oozing out of her body, seeing Blake satiating his senses with the water makes her more depressed about not having a physical body.

Now that he was facing his reflection, he tries to use his power.

Controlling the power within him that he has felt ever since he turned into a Spectral Vampire, Blake can see that a blood-red shadow came out almost like a hand, groping its way through his skin.

It didn't idle for long, he feels a throb in his head when he maintained the Shadowblood.

Obviously, he's not used to using it.

"Quite cool I must say. Aside from the thirst for blood, this race is quite cool" Blake mused.

Looking down at his plain farmer clothes underneath his new Brown-furred jacket, Blake frowns as he finds that it was drenched with his own blood. It's completely dirty, but there's a river here that he can use.

Blake cleans his clothes before letting it dry out on the side.

It would probably take a considerable amount of time for the clothes to dry out as the sky is cloudy, and it wouldn't be weird if rain was about to start. But he used this time to recuperate his severely injured body.

Just as his condition changed from Severely Injured to Injured, he decided to swim.

Salana said that the fruit should be inside the river.

Ice Blue Banana is the name of the fruit that the monkey-like creatures want, a fruit that emits an enigmatic aroma that is hard to resist, and that taste is also savory and intoxicatingly sweet.

Aside from that, this fruit also has a magical property to slightly increase MP capacity.

Blake, bare-chested as he swims down into the river and finds that the river is quite deep. About ten to fifteen meters deep. It should also be see-through, yet the cloudy sky makes it rather dim and murky.

Even so, this doesn't pose any problem for Blake, he can see perfectly in the dark.

Searching around, he couldn't find the Ice Blue Banana.

'Salana said that it should grow in a tight crack at the riverbed, and it should also be glowing. But there doesn't seem to be any' Blake thought dejectedly, he doesn't find anything at the riverbed, only complete darkness and emptiness.

Going up to take a breather, he suddenly stopped when he catches sight of something.

At the corner of his right eye, he can see something glowing at the riverbed. Blake glanced at the glow and saw two glowing blue lights. It was then, he was excited as this might be the Ice Blue Banana he was searching for.

But in the second, he winced and quickly swam up.

"Phuaah!" Blake emerges back to the surface and gets out of the water.

Upon seeing this, Salana walks over and crouches beside him, "Did you find it?" she asked.

"No, I didn't find it. But I think I'm not going into the river again" Blake replied and quickly push himself out of the water. Confused, Salana tilts her head a little before he continues, "I saw a big fucking eel at the riverbed, it's as powerful as the giant bear from earlier!"

Instead of the Ice Blue Banana, the two glowing lights turn out to be eyes.

Hawking its eyes over to him, the powerful underwater mob is already putting him as its lunch. Blake felt a shiver running down his spine remembering that, he would've been dragged down if he swims any deeper.

Although he wanted his revenge, he was not going to risk getting inside the river.

Blake couldn't handle underwater creatures, he was always scared of sharks because of the movies he watched, and that thing, whatever it is inside the river is more monstrous than sharks.

Even as he noticed that fish, his heart almost jumped out of his chest in response.

Seeing the fear on Blake's face makes Salana chuckle, he always has a funny reaction regarding certain things, "If a real Vampire know that you're scared of a fish, I bet they would crawl back to their coffins out of embarrassment"

"Then you go inside, I rather die than go inside again" Blake rebutted and walks away.

A moment later, Blake has already worn his clothes back.

Despite the unexpected encounter with the underwater mob, he overall felt more refreshed. But then suddenly, he sprung up when he heard a distant sound seeping into his ears. It sounded like a clash of metals.

"Is there a fight nearby? I better check it out" Blake mutters to himself.

Knowing that this might be an opportunity, he wouldn't want to miss this out.

Quickly wearing the Brow-furred jacket again, he dashes towards the direction of the sound, and it didn't take long for him to find see that what he guessed was correct, there's a fight between two parties.

Peeking through a bush, he inspected the place in front of him.

Judging from the looks of it, one side consists of two women. One should be an older woman wearing a black combat suit layered with a black robe that makes her look like an assassin, the other one has a completely different look, she's definitely younger with blonde hair and is wearing a white fancy tunic and a skin-tight black pants.

Her clothes have an elegant and refined look to them.

"Is she a player? Her taste in outfit seems like a player to me" Blake uttered out loud.

But Salana quickly shakes her head, expressing her disagreement, "Players have an avatar behind them, remember? You're one of the Privileged Players, so you can tell Players and NPCs apart instantly. Since she doesn't have an avatar, then she must be an NPC"

"So it's like in the real world, huh..." Blake mused as he finds this interesting.

Now that he thought about it, he was wandering earlier about identifying other players. Blake wanted to know which path the Lunaris game will take, and it seems it has taken the immersive path of approach.

If what Salana said is true, then other players would find it hard to differentiate other players.

One could easily tell whether others are players or not through the way they speak of course. But if the players are smart, then with a little bit of finesse, they can fool others to think that they are NPCs.

Luckily for him, he's not a regular player, he can tell them apart with ease.

Blake finds the two women in a pickle, surrounded by what seems to be paid mercenaries.

Out of the people that he was looking at right, the assassin woman had the highest level at 27. Yet she was already injured, there are a couple of visible wounds on her body, and her HP is at 50% already.

While the younger woman beside her was registered as level 11, pretty weak.

Additionally, the mercenaries' levels hovered around 15 to 20, and the captain was a level 25.

This information was displayed above their heads alongside their HP and MP.

Watching this situation from the cover of a bush without any of them knowing, Blake contemplates whether he should help them or not. But as he was undecided, he saw the mercenary captain takes a step forward.

"Stop resisting, you're not escaping this. So stop, and surrender yourselves to us"

In response to this, the assassin woman pulls the younger woman to her back showing that she would be protecting her even if it cost her life. As the tension continues, the younger woman suddenly caught sight of Blake.

Both of them made eye contact, and the two were stunned briefly.

Albeit surprised to find Blake peeking at them from the bush, the younger woman quickly snap out of her daze and shot a pleading look at Blake, seemingly asking him to help them to survive this encounter through her eyes.

Noticing this look, he suddenly turns his face away.

Contrary to what the younger woman thinks, Blake is currently holding back his laughter.

"Why are you laughing? Aren't you going to help?" Salana asked, confused.

Upon hearing this, Blake tries to restrain himself from laughing before he said, "Seeing that woman's pleading face, I suddenly remembered your face when you use that damn puppy face on me. I can't take this seriously..."

Salana was in a state of disbelief, she doesn't know what to feel right now.

Realizing that Blake was mocking her for using her puppy face on him, she clicked her tongue in displeasure, "People would kill to get to see that kind of face from me, you asshole"

Just as the two bickers, the mercenaries are inching closer to the two cornered women.

It was then, a notification from the System suddenly appeared.

Blake's attention was instantly pulled to that notification, and he raises his eyebrows in response as he was not expecting this. 'Well, if you offer something like this, how could I refuse to help now...?'

[Audrey is offering player MoonDespoiler a quest!]

[Quest reward: 80,000 Exp, 50 Infernal Veiled Assassin Guild reputation, and NPC Bonus]

[Would you like to accept the quest?]

[Yes or No]