Spiders Forest

The grass was soft beneath our feet, the green Galrinth Fields

spreading out in all directions. Every now and then the sun

would go behind a cloud, casting shadows over the distant

hills and valleys.

"Datalent?""

"Just call me Data."

"Data, then. Where exactly are we going?" I was hoping it

was somewhere a bit more exciting than this field. The

landscape was boring enough that my thoughts had run away

with me again, and I needed to think about something more

than what was going on in the real-life hospital. After

everything l'd heard of how fun this place could be, i was

eager to find out for myself what all the hype was about.

"Widows' Forest, just over there." He pointed across the

grasslands to a forest in the distance, separated from us by

only a lake, a few trees, and halfa dozen miles.

We were traversing the open fields in that direction. Our

first landmark was a wide bridge and the realism of the river

that flowed under it was enough to impress me with the

game's attention to detail. Having once been a keen gamer

before the Dream Engine was invented, but also knowing how

cautious I would need to be to survive here, I had mixed

feelings about the beautiful graphics.

After about half an hour of walking and talking to him, I

could tell that Datalent wasn't just a good player, but, judging

by the passion behind his words when talking about aspects

of the game, a bit of a geek as wel. He used most of the time

that we were walking to explain the game mechanics, and the bright, animated tone in his voice made me wonder whether

he had once been a sales rep for the Wona Company. He

showed me his equipment and patiently ran through a list of

which items I could synthesize to make a weapon that would

benefit me as a Spellcaster, and the ones I didn't need to

bother with.

"My gear for instance." He pointed to the thick, dark-

gray leather covering his shoulders and chest that thinned

out and became tighter around his waist. The same thick

leather continued down over his beltline in shell-like

protrusions. "This is Rhino Leather.I had to get it from the

Primatier monsters on the Onjira Plains. It's incredibly tough

and players need a high level of strength to wear it. So much

strength that it's practically useless for your Niche."

"So what would be the best garments for a Spellcaster?"

He grinned as though he was expecting the question.

"That's why we're heading into Widows' Forest. The best

Spellcaster starter robes are made from Arachnid Silk. If we

can spend a few hours cutting through the monsters in there,

we'll be hitting two birds with one stone."

Something in his words struck a chord in me.

"Arachnid... that sounds like"

"We're going to be fighting spiders, Noah, really big

spiders. I hope you're not an arachnophobe."

"T'm not."

At least, I don't think I am. Sue was usually the one who picked

them up and threw them outside, afraid that I would squash them.

I had a suspicion it wasn't going to be as easy as dealing

with spiders in real life.

The artificial sunlight in the fields dimmed as we advanced toward the ominously dark, web-strewn forest. As

soon as we approached the trees, the sky automatically

darkened and a full moon appeared high above us.

Great. The forest has a horror-movie theme.

The spider webs everywhere made this obvious. Soft,

ambient music that I hadn't even registered until now

suddenly switched to a minor key.

"How familiar are you with this place?" I asked, but Data

remained silent.

Despite my growing anxiety I was impressed with the

detail of the forest, from the flaking bark on the trees to the

feeling of the prickling needles on my skin. Even my avatar's

reaction to the roots rang true as I lost my footing and my

vision tilted. I was forced to regain my balance.

"Watch it!" Data hissed. He stepped over a large root and

brushed a veil of spider webs aside as he led the way through.

"And to answer your question, there's no good reason for a

Warrior class to hang around for long considering the main

items you get here won't help me. I usually just walk straight

through. I suggest you keep your eyes up, Arachnids can drop

down from the trees."

I looked up. I could only just see above our heads with

how thick the pine tree branches were above us. Cobwebs

filled the natural canopy, the scent of pine a lot more

authentic than any air freshener I'd smelled. We moved

further in and the roots began to spread out to form a wide

path. I kept my eyes open, looking for anything resembling a

spider. The moonlight shining through the needled branches

made me jump at shadows. We walked through undisturbed,

but the lack of enemies made the forest even more terrifying via the sheer suspense. Not knowing when something would

jump out at us really put me on edge.

This is just a game, I kept reminding myself. It's not real.

Thankfully we arrived in an area where the trees were

more spaced out, the artificial moonlight shining into a large,

oval-shaped glade. It was completely empty except for the

wind-bent grass.

Datalent stopped and pulled the cork out of a water

droplet-shaped bottle he had pulled from his rucksack. He

waved it about in the air around us.

"What's that

"I did some reading on how to draw out the Arachnid

monsters. Turns out you get the best haul from using a

special pheromone item." He corked the bottle and put it

away. "It took me a while to find it because I've never had to

use it before. I'm hoping it's not too powerful."

My gut clenched in fear. "Why?"

"Because if it is, we might draw out too many of them,

or..."He grinned. "A Mother Spider."

Considering I'l go into a coma if they kill me, Data doesn't

sound very worried.

Panic rose in me as I saw swift movement from the edge

of the clearing. I equipped the Copper Sword Data had bought

for me and held it ready.

He looked over his shoulder and his eyes narrowed.

"FoCus on your magic for now. If you use the blade first, it

will break too early, and you'll be screwed." He equipped two

symmetrical, golden-laced, dual-wielding swords, spinning

them as they appeared in his hands. "Leave the outliers to

me. You stay in the middle and give cover fire. Use the blade if any get too close, but, other than that, your Fire Ball spell

will be your best option."

I nodded, moving into the middle of the clearing as the

first lot of Arachnids appeared. closing in on hairy legs, they

looked like your garden-variety tarantula, still freakish but

nothing a few hours on the Discovery Channel wouldn't have

prepared me for. There were big ones, though, with some

even coming up to my waist.

Seeing how Datalent took out the first one, the large

spider vanishing in a bright flash, I realized I should be more

concerned about the smaller ones that he was less likely to

spot. I let a Fire Ball fly, and, as the monsters' health bars

plummeted to zero, it cleared three of the lesser spiders from

his path in one shot. Firing a few more, I watched as Data

went about cutting up the larger ones. Every so often one of

the vanishing spiders would drop a rope-like substance. I

guessed that this was the Silk we were supposed to collect so I

went to pick them up. Data turned to me, eyes wide.

"check your blind spot!"

I turned, watching in shock as one of the larger Arachnids

from behind me reared up and its fang hit my thinly robed

arm. My green health bar went down by a third, and I started

becoming more proactive with my Fire Balls. I let them fly,

roaring from my hands in bright blasts as I cleared the area of

those around me. I was surprised that so much fire didn't

cause the forest to burn down. I checked my stats again and

saw that not only were my Hit Points taking a toll, but my

Mana was dwindling trom casting so many Fire Balls as well.

Data rushed in and took out a few that were drawing

close to me. I hadn't been struck again and yet my health bar continued to drop below the halfway point and had turned

red.

"Why am I still dying?"

"You've been poisoned by its venom." Data pointed to :

item that one of the spiders had dropped. "See that bottle?

Pick it up and use it before your Hit Points get too low! It's

the antivenin"

You could have told me that before we started fighting!

I rushed over and did what he said as he cut through two

more of the eight-legged terrors. I fumbled but managed to

pick it up, watching as the option to use it popped up as a Key

Trigger right away. I used the antivenin and my health

stopped dropping before getting to the last third. I turned

back and was surprised to see Data zigzag from spider to

spider, swinging his blades, making them vanish as fast as

they appeared.

Inspired by the sight, I started using my own sword,

which took a few more strikes to cut the Arachnids down, and

firing more Fire Balls as groups of the smaller ones scuttled

closer. Before long I had gained enough space to takee a

breather, although I wasn't really out of breath. Data took

something from his rucksack and threw it at me. I went to

catch it, but when it touched my hand it vanished, and I saw a

sparkle of light glittering around me. My Hit Points shot

up and a small window appeared to let me know that Data

had used an item called Willow Bark on me.

It was a good thing, for it was then that my sword broke

with a piercing crack. I retreated back as I waited for my

Mana to return, but they were closing in quicker than it was

regenerating. "Ah, Data?"

"Don't worry, I've got this," he said, and I watched as he

lifted his arms and let go of his swords

His dual blades shot away from his hands and flew off

around the clearing, spinning so fast that they formed circles

of death that cut down every spider they passed.

Swords can be used as Range weapons, too? Cool!

With this technique, it took less than a few minutes for

him to clean up the rest of the Arachnids. I managed to blast a

few more Fire Balls before it was over, but with how efficient

his spinning-blade ability was, it seemed like I was just

wasting my Mana.

When the glade was cleared of spiders, I saw that they

had been replaced by an almost equivalent number of

dropped items. Data's swords spun back to his hands and he

sheathed them before they vanished, sheaths and all, into his

items sack.

He then gestured to the items and smirked. "The haul

awaits."

I thought we would have to go about collecting up the

items one by one. However, they all drew toward us as though

sucked in by a vortex. A menu showed up with both our

names on it and the item count.

Tsh, mostly Arachnid Silk and antivenin." Data sighed.

"If you didn't break your sword, I might have thought that

this was a waste of time."

"What do you mean? Weren't those the two reasons why

we came here?"

"Yeah, but I thought I might get lucky and get a rare area

item on this mission, Whatever, though." He turned and waved, expressing his intention to leave. "At least you

received enough silk for an Arachnid Silk Robe. We'll call it a

day and head back so you can have one made for you."

He began to walk from the clearing. From the shadows

there was a loud thump, and the largest spider yet jumped

down from a tree and landed in front of him. I turned and

watched as it reared up to the size of a small pine, hairy front

legs raking the air. Its pincers gnashed with slashing fangs

glinting in the moonlight. If I wasn't afraid before, I was now.

"Woah!" Data yelled.

From his reaction, it seemed he hadn't seen a Mother

Spider before, either. He jumped back as it bore down on him

but this time, instead of equipping his dual blades, he pulled

out a larger sword with a shining blue blade like a glowing

sapphire.

Of all of the things that I had heard about this game from

David and Brock, one of the features that they had talked

about the most were the seven rare Color Blades. Apparently,

Data owned the blue.

From his retreating bound, Data lunged forward and took

off the creature's front legs with a single sweeping slash. All I

could do was stare and gape as, with another slash, he cut the

Mother Spider in two. Unlike the other Arachnids that had

vanished with a flash of light, this one disintegrated pixel by

pixel with bright explosions that smothered a screeching cry.

When it was gone, Data bent down and picked up the

item it had dropped. I didn't pay attention to it. All I could do

was let out the breath I had been holding and watch as he

lowered his glistening blade.

time?"

"I-I just froze

when I saw your blade. That's the

Sapphire Edge, isn't it?"

He looked down at the blade and frowned. "Yeah... you

weren't supposed to know what that was."

"Why did you use it?"

"Instinct. That spider just came out of nowhere."

I looked down as silence pervaded the clearing. Data

returned his one of a kind weapon to his inventory. I shook

my head.

"So...I suppose you don't want me to say anything?"

He grinned and then began to walk, making his way out

of the forest.

"IfI were you, I wouldn't. Come on, let's get out of here. "

Wait... was that meant to be a threat?

I couldn't help but think so as we made our way back to

Galrinth to talk to my brother, finally I was done with training.

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