Chapter 4:

The Teammates Who Don't Stop Helping Part 2

God of Exploitation AKA How I Survived a Fantasy World Through Leeching and Manipulation


I am feeling stronger already. The armor I have on doesn't compare to the last one I had, but it definitely gives me confidence to face danger. My armor is kind of like Kevlar. It is flexible, but more metallic feeling, and not as comfortable. I was also given special boots. They feel like a thick hide, but plated with some sort of material on the front. Finally, I have a sword. I don't know how this sword compares to other weapons, since this is my first real weapon. In fact, I don't even know what this thing is made out of. I don't really care what this equipment is. I just want to get out of this world.

"Yeah, I am ready to fight!" yells WV.

"You realize it's just going to be mindless grinding for hours," says Junior R.

"Well then, you can see this as a day to relax. No need to push yourself as much."

Katerina steps in.

"It will definitely be easy, but training R.G. enough to let him fight with us in Black Valley is definitely going to take a long time. Whether or not he wants to stay with us is technically up to him, but be warned that without a party and your stats, you are as good as dead. So, if you want to survive, stick with us for now. We should head out now," she says.

"Well, if it's easy for you guys, I'm okay with that," I said.

Katerina walks out as the rest of us tailed behind. We all leave the town and out into the fields for training. The more we walk, the more my legs tickle from the grass getting noticeably taller. There must be some monsters here.

Suddenly, something pops out of the grass. It’s definitely not a rat this time. It’s like a tiny rhino, the size of a dog. It has a scaly hide, and is stomping the ground, ready to attack. Its horn looks sharp, but probably not enough to kill us. Though, maybe kill me if I didn't have support. Anyways, if these guys say these enemies are easy, then it should be no big deal.

“This will be a clean kill!” yells Katerina.

She charges at the beast. The beast drops its guard, as she pulls out her sword. Like an unstoppable train, she pierces the monster through the face, and pulls it out like it was a knife stuck in a piece of steak. The rhino creature never stood and a chance, and drops onto the grass.

“Okay, I totally agree with what West Virginia said back in the bar. This is like a day to relax,” I said.

I suddenly hear an odd wailing noise. It wasn’t coming from the dead animal, but rather from the grass behind it. Suddenly, two of its saddened friends jump out, and they appear to be angry.

“It’s my turn,” yells WV. She was super-fast on her legs. The rhino creature seems to be confused by her actions. I didn’t even notice that she had already killed it using the knife she pulled out from her pocket. It looks like it’s my turn now.

“This last one is mine!” I yell, without really thinking of something clever. I kind of waddle up to the monster. The creature looks like it is read to attack. I clumsily grab the sword out of my sheath, and try to raise it over my head. However, I didn’t realize how heavy this thing was, so I kind of turn my body, and swing it like a bat. It isn’t like those assassin movies where they slice off someone’s head. It was like hitting a plastic bat on a wooden table. Yeah, I really underestimated how hard doing this was going to be.

The rhino creature looks like it was pissed off from that attack.

“Damn, this fighting actually freakin’ sucks. You guys actually spend your lives doing this?”

The rhino ignores my rambling, and makes a high pitched wail. The creature pounces up in the air, but is blown away into the ground. I inspect the animal, and see the source of the unknown occurrence. An arrow from the Robin Hood wannabe himself.

“That thing was never going to attack you. Relax,” says Junior. I can really tell he doesn’t want to do any of this training.

“Well, at least we took care of them. Good try, R. G.” cheers West Virginia.

“Yeah, so how much EXP do I need to turn that try into a job?”

“Well let’s see, there’s 4 of us, and from my analysis…” West Virginia uses that analysis thing again, but it displays different information. It looks like it is calculating the experience from defeating those rhino things. I wanted to ask about them, but I don’t want to waste any time. “Yep 3 exp for each of us. And your next level will be in the next 997 exp.”

“WAIT, ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

“Yep. I thought it would be fast for you since you are only level 1.”

Damn it. I have a feeling that Printer guy set something to make my level rate inconveniently slower, yet not impossible for me to ignore it.

“Therefore, we have to keep fighting in this area until you get an acceptable level to move on to the next area,” declares Katerina.

“No, no, no! I saw how strong you guys are. Can we just like level train at Black Valley or something?”

“No. One hit, and you’re pretty much dead. We don’t want to be seen as people luring weak newbies into hard places just to watch them die.”

“Damnit. Fine, one of you is strong enough. Can you like have a few members leave so the exp division is smaller. So like, 2 people get 6 exp?”

“Yeah, I would like to volunteer,” said Junior.

“Your request is denied,” yelled Katerina.

“Whatever, I tried.”

“With more of us, we will be equally training, and will have these battles end a lot faster.”

“But it just going to be a small amount of exp. It’s not going to throw the balance off,” I replied.

“We are sticking together, and that’s final, got it!?” yells Katerina angrily. Something is completely different. She seemed cold when I first met her, but what has gotten into her?

“Fine, whatever. When I could actually like, hurt something, we better move on.”

“That’s a reasonable deal. Maybe we will actually show our magic along the way. But for now, these enemies really don’t need magic to take care of them.”

We walks through the fields again, and in no time, we encounter some new enemies. There are two hawk like birds that have red feathers, but had really buff wings. It looks like they could actually throw punches while flying. The other two are slimy snake like creatures. I still don’t know any of these creatures’ names, but all I care about is removing them from the scene with force. Though, my party’s force for now.

“I’m up first,” yells Katerina. Once again, her expert swordsmanship is used to wipe out one of the hawks. It never even stood a chance. Katerina just sprung up in the air, and swung her sword at the bird so hard, it looked like it died from impact rather than slicing.

“It’s my turn,” yells WV. She uses her swift motions again to distract the enemies. She heads straight for the snake creature. Her hand flicked in the air, and a fountain of slime shot up from the snake’s neck and into the air.

“I think you should go next Junior, I’ll handle the last guy,” I said. Junior looks at me coldly but says nothing. “Hey! Shoot one of your arrows or something. I don’t care which one, they’ll both equally lethal to me.”

Junior is staring at me, but still says nothing. Suddenly, I have a weird pulse of energy in my body. It was as if I am supposed to fight. My legs feel like they were moving on their own, yet they clumsily run like last time. I pull out my sword, and inadequately swing at the hawk. I think I cut one of its wings. However, it flies up into the air, and screeches at me.

“I’ll finish it,” says Junior. I look at him, and he pulls out an arrow. In no time, the arrows vanish from his hands, and strike the hawk in the face. The hawk was sent flying into the distance. It was clear that it won’t get back up.

“Hey, any reason you didn’t do that in the first place? You just shot at the same enemy I was attacking, even though you could have taken care of the other in one hit.” I yelled at Junior, but he still stares blankly. “Is this one of those stupid ‘I was just testing your potential’ bull crap things? We don’t have time for this!”

I look back at the other two. “Hey, is anyone going to say something?”

“Look out!”

I looked around, and suddenly Katerina charges into me. I was punted to the ground. I look up and see that the slimy snake attempted to shank me with its fangs.

“It’s good you’re safe, but pay attention to the battle,” says Katerina. She pulls out her sword again, and kills the gooey menace.

The battle is over, however…

“What the hell is going on!?” I angrily yelled.

“That bird was a more difficult target for someone like you. We had to get rid of it first,” says Katerina sternly.

“I think that snake thing was just as difficult for me. I don’t even know what these creatures even do. What just happened to me back there, did anyone else feel it? I was like, trying to fight, even though I knew I couldn’t do it.”

“That’s just instinct, man” says Junior, finally.

“Oh, that’s what you have to say to me after all of that? And instinct? I thought nothing of attacking, yet it suddenly happened.”

“I think that’s the definition of instinct”

“R. G., sorry, but you really need to calm down. That feeling you had, well, you just have to get used to it if you want to fight well,” said West Virginia consolingly.

Instincts. I know how instincts feel. Something like if there is a terrifying force in front of someone, they will instinctively freeze up because our minds are stupid. However, it felt like more than instincts. I’ll be sure to recognize the feeling next time, and try to fight it.

We find a new horde of enemies. Based on this encounter, it seems this area is filled with only three enemies, the rhinos, hawk arms, and slimy snakes. This time, there were three enemies again, 2 rhinos and a hawk.

I watched Katerina and WV make the first moves of killing off the hawk and one of the rhinos. It seems that we all fight in a specific order. I was about to question it, until it was my turn.

“Yeah, my fighting is crap, so you go ahead Junior.”

“Just attack,” growls Junior.

“Jeez, what’s with you guys, don’t you want this battle to be done quickly?”

“It will go faster if you just attack now.”

I had a different idea.

“Well, I might as well pick guard and defend myself, that’s faster than attacking.”

I raise my weapon in a defensive position. However, an overwhelming force comes over me again. My legs and arms are forced out of position, and go straight for the rhino.

“Wait, what the hell? I was guarding. I know for certain I wanted to guard.” It was almost like someone changed my mind. I’m not scared of the rhino anymore knowing it will be dispatched by Junior.

“Let’s get going R. G., it’s still going to take a long time just to gain your first level,” says Katerina.

This power. It’s definitely not coming from these animals. They’re too stupid to do something like that. Plus, I don’t think they have powers. I don’t know, my party doesn’t let me see what they do for my safety. I look all around me. There is absolutely no one else here. Still, I have a feeling someone is controlling my actions. I need to test it next time.

Real Aire
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