Chapter 2: My First Encounter

 Immediately after Kura and I formed our party, we set off toward the edge of the city, following the guidebook’s directions to the plains. As we got closer to the walls surrounding the starting area, the crowds that had once been so prominent started to dwindle—replaced by wide gates, worn dirt paths, and the first hints of open wilderness.

A faint scent of grass drifted towards us as we crossed the boundary that marked the edge of the city. Just beyond the gates, the land opened into endless green, and distant views of players started to appear on the horizon.

As we drew closer, we realized the plains were already packed—hundreds, maybe thousands of players, all hunting low-level monsters for XP.

“Maybe we should go further out?” I posed this question to Kura as we looked at all the players.

“I think it would be for the best,” he replied, “I heard there is a small forest not far from here. We could look to see if anyone has been there yet.”

Nodding in agreement, we strutted down the dirt path to where we believed a forest would lie for us.

After a 20 minute walk we stumbled upon the forest that was mentioned in the guidebook. As we slipped past the trees into the forest, you could hear echoes of wildlife bouncing off the trees.

Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Kura pointed silently ahead. There, not far from us, a wild brown boar stood near a tree. It hadn’t noticed us, so we quickly took cover behind one of the many massive logs that laid on the floor of the woodland.

“What should we do?” I asked Kura in a whisper.

Kura put on a slight grin. “I can distract it while you go around and stab it.”

“Sounds good.”

Finalizing our plan, Kura jumped out from behind the tree and rushed the boar. The creature squealed and began to shift right, its hooves kicking up dirt. At that moment, I sprinted in from the side, my sword low. As the boar turned, I struck—driving my blade into its thick hide with surprising ease.

The sensation was shockingly real. I could feel the resistance of flesh and a slight recoil in my arm.

The boar let out a dying cry and collapsed, its body quickly disintegrating into thousands of tiny particles that floated upward before vanishing. After it was completely gone, I received a notification.

<Defeated Level 2 Boar. +25 XP>

I stood there, staring at the spot it had fallen, my chest rising and falling with shallow breaths.

It felt real. Too real.

I remembered what the guidebook had said about the <Hive Mind>. It was designed to simulate all five of the body’s primary senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—by sending controlled neural signals directly to your brain. Everything you felt in this world, every breeze, blade, and blow, was an illusion… but it didn’t feel like one.

Looking up from the spot where the boar had fallen, I saw Kura standing a few feet away. His breathing had steadied, and in his hands, he held a piece of boar hide—an item he must’ve looted from the floor where the creature once laid.

“What can that be used for?” I asked while struggling to sheath my blade.

Kura turned the hide over in his hands. “It doesn’t say,” he replied. “No description or stats popped up. I’m guessing it can be sold… maybe it’s used for repairs?”

I watched as Kura slid the boar hide into his inventory with a satisfied look in his eyes, briefly scanning the empty space where the loot window had disappeared.

“Let’s keep going,” I said. “There might be more ahead.”

We pushed deeper into the forest, stepping carefully over tangled roots and overgrown bushes. The deeper we went, the thicker the canopy of tree leaves became, letting only patches of sunlight spill across the forest floor in streaks. It wasn’t long before we stumbled upon a small clearing just ahead, framed by trees and brush. A shallow pond glistened from sunlight in the middle.

Near the pond, a group of boars lay lounging in the shade—at least four, maybe five. Their ears twitched lazily. They hadn’t noticed us yet.

I crouched low behind a small hill that gave us a clear line of sight.

“There’s four, maybe five of them,” I whispered.

Kura eyed them, tightening his grip on his hammer. “Yeah. You take the big one—I’ll handle the rest.”

“Aren’t you confident,” I remarked.

“Well I can hit mo—.”

Without letting him finish, I leapt forward, launching myself off the slope. My feet hit the ground hard as I landed on the largest boar. It let out a startled, high-pitched squeal and tried to run away. Fortunately for it, I had failed to unsheathe my sword, giving it a chance to escape. I chased after it, still attempting to grab my sword from its sheath.

Finally grabbing my sword out of its holster, I caught up with the massive boar, who was slow due to his weight.

My blade sank in deep—its health bar plummeted—and within seconds, it collapsed, its body fading into shards of particles.

“Nice one!” Kura shouted sarcastically behind me.

He vaulted over the same hill I had and crashed down onto two of the boars with a devastating swing of his hammer. The force of the impact cracked through the clearing like a thunderclap. Both boars squealed and thrashed before exploding into XP.

With a little hesitation, I tried to catch one of the boars that had gotten away from him. The boar bolted to the right, trying to escape. I gave chase, with each step feeling as though it put cracks in the earth. As I caught up, I wound up a sword strike behind my head.

<Slash!>

It went down in one clean strike.

The last boar tried to run—but Kura was faster. Moving at a pace I thought to be incredible with that heavy hammer, he hit the side of the creature, killing it with a single blow.

Breathing hard, I dropped to the ground near the pond.

I stared up at the forests shifting leaves above us, letting my sword rest in the grass beside me. “That was insane,” I muttered between breaths. “I think I’m actually sweating.”

Kura chuckled, flopping down beside me. “I’d be worried if you weren’t. That hammer swing took everything I had. These boars are stronger than they look.”

“I didn’t expect them to be grouped like that,” I said. “If we weren’t careful, we could’ve been overwhelmed.”

He nodded, wiping his forehead.

“Yeah, ‘careful.’ Says the person who jumped straight onto one of them.”

As Kura talks, he energetically moves his hands around even with the littlest of details, he’ll make a movement to explain the “greatness” of it.

“I don’t want to hear it from you. I mean, you jumped onto a group of four.”

“At least I didn’t struggle to take out my weapon.”

“That’s because yours is attached to your back!” I shot back, half-joking, half-annoyed.

After joking around, we sat in silence for a moment, listening to the wind rustle the leaves above and the gentle rippling of the pond nearby.

Then Kura spoke again. “So... how long do you think we’ve been in here?”

I blinked. “I don’t even know. I haven’t checked the time once since logging in.”

He let out a short laugh. “That’s the scary part. You forget this is a game.”

We laughed about it for a second, but the sudden realization that we had no idea how long we’d been in there was worrying to more than a little extent.