Still Climbing

Kode had somewhat successfully distracted Cinder, but he had also distracted himself, and they ended up talking about nothing until they actually encountered a boar. They hadn't even gone looking for it and stayed on the cleared path upward, but it still didn't take long for them to run into one.

Fortunately, they were used to boars by now, and it only took a few minutes between running into it and killing it. They used the same tactic as always with Cinder dodging and Kode shooting it from a distance with his bow.

But since their goal wasn't to earn money by selling loot in Rata, they didn't bother making sure Kode got the kill. They wanted to be as efficient as possible when climbing. As soon as Cinder saw a good opportunity, he took it and whacked the boar's head, caving its skull in and killing it.

That meant they didn't get any loot from it unless they wanted to waste time and let Cinder practice, which they didn't. They left it for the cleaners and continued their climb.

But almost as if the Mountain had sensed their goal and wanted them to prove themselves worthy before moving on from the starter area, multiple boars, noticeably stronger than the ones directly above the village, appeared one at a time to test them. As long as they came alone, they weren't even a challenge to the experienced duo.

It was when the boars started increasing the numbers with each attack that things got a little rough since it meant Cinder had to juggle the attention of multiple boars circling him and taking turns charging him. He also had to make sure that none of them slipped away toward Kode.

It was a good thing that Kode had bought him an extra mace before they set off. He had to use it quite a lot.

But the boars were simple. As long as they didn't have Kode in their sights when he shot them, they would stay focused on Cinder and use their repetitive attack pattern on him.

Using only the mace and on open ground, Cinder could only deal with four boars alone. More than that required Kode's help. Kode, on the other hand, could easily deal with two boars with his upgraded bow.

If he managed to keep his hands steady, he could probably deal with three boars by shooting them in the head before they reached him. But three hulking boars charging straight at him had a tendency to get his adrenaline pumping and his hands shaking.

With their limits confirmed, the two wanted to move on, but Cinder had already stayed online a little longer than he had planned, so he hurried to log off. And Kode didn't want to stay in the wilderness between Rata and the town they were aiming for alone, so he also logged off.

Cinder was a little tired the next day, but they made good pace. The only thing that obstructed them was the stronger and smaller boars as well as the occasional deer that got in their way. Some deer could be spooked away. Others were provoked into attacking them.

Cinder was already used to the deers' attack patterns, but Kode had trouble adjusting to their smaller frame and nimbler movements. His arrows missed more often than not that night.

Two nights left until his next day off.

The third night was similar to the second, but the deer were more varied, both in their appearance and in their aggression. Some charged straight at them without them needing to make a grimace. Others bolted before they could even get close.

Cinder was the only one who noticed differences in their appearances. He noticed that the deer with darker fur, a color more similar to the color on the boars, were more inclined to be aggressive while deer with lighter fur had a tendency to run. It wasn't an iron-clad rule, but there was a connection.

Unfortunately, Kode didn't have enough realism to tell such details accurately. All deer had a pretty standard forest brown fur coat.

But that still meant Cinder could call out when a deer was more likely to charge.

Sometimes, it also felt like the deer were smart enough to go for Kode, even when Cinder was right in their faces, but it happened so rarely that neither thought much about it. 

They ended the night with mixed feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. It felt like they had climbed a lot during the few hours they played, but that was mostly because they had fought a bunch of monsters. But that was where their source of satisfaction came from. They had enough loot to fill up Kode's Inventory, and they hadn't even arrived yet.

They wouldn't get as much from the boar meat and fur from a place that wasn't the starter village, so Kode sorted those things out. It was only natural that the prices for such low-level gear were lower and the prices for the deer meat and the like would be nowhere near what Cinder got for it at the village.

But it would all still hopefully be enough to make up for the losses of not selling anything for several days. 

Cinder had already emptied the payday from the deer into bills. And these light night gaming sessions were wearing him out when he worked hard during the day. However, there was still no sign of the town. They hadn't even seen any other players or NPCs on the road.

Both of them wanted to continue grinding, but Cinder really had to log off and try to get as many hours of sleep as possible. Since he would have the day off after tomorrow, he could grind a few more hours at night and then sleep in before carrying his mother to T-Minus 20.

With that plan, the two called it a night and went to get as much rest as possible. Well, Cinder went to rest. Kode stayed up a while longer and researched forums to double-check everything and make sure they were close to the town, at first at least. 

He got distracted by cute cat videos people had taken inside the game.