Rookie Party

A few days had passed since Luna was officially released from the hospital. Her wound was fully healed, and she felt fitter than ever.

It was already in the middle of the day when she strolled around the hunting fields of the Tutorial Section. The sun was shining brightly, with no clouds in the beautiful azure sky. And although it was already November, it was still hot for November.

[Current Quest (4/100): Defeat the Haunting Tree.]

Despite being newly released, Luna was now facing her next quest, which was updated automatically by her status window. This time, she had to defeat a Haunting Tree, which was said to be located deeper in the forest on the hunting fields. From the outside, it did not look different from other trees, but what earned it its nickname was the fact that it could move like a human and even extend itself to a certain degree, chasing after everyone in its vicinity like a ghost.

And normally, a Haunting Tree would be very tough for one beginner to handle; however, Luna was not alone.

"Why are you looking at me? I won't do anything, so you know." Jay stated, noticing her short glance that was full of expectations. He was walking leisurely beside her while his guard was completely down compared to Luna's guard.

Luna sighed and turned her gaze to the group of people that were also tagging along. The group consisted of three people: Karl, a boy who was a few years younger than Luna, and who wielded a sword. Nina, a woman who was the same age as Luna and handled a bow. And Randy, a middle-aged man with a big shield.

Luna met them in her dorms and suggested forming a party for this quest. And since the three were also searching for party members, their interests matched, and they agreed with Luna without any trouble.

"A Haunting Tree, huh...? I'm kinda scared to be honest..." Nina muttered, putting up a shaky smile.

"But with the four of us, there's nothing to worry about!" Carl declared confidently, showing off his sword skills.

"Just don't let your guard down, you two." Randy pointed out, smiling and treating them like kids.

"Guys, we will enter the forest now. Does anyone wish to take a break before we go in?" Luna wondered.

Her party gave her the signal that it was fine to move on. Luna glanced at Jay for a moment, gauging his reaction, but he remained indifferent. She knew that she should not expect anything out of Jay today, after all, he was merely here to observe and teach if it was necessary.

Back when she initially suggested joining Erik and Jay's party, she was both rejected and accepted. Whereas Jay was fine with her joining, Erik was adamant about not allowing her in. The two discussed the matter outside the room before it was decided to put the final decision on hold. Erik explained to her that joining them would be a lot more dangerous than she would think. Not because of other threats, like the other Jays, but because of the nature of their quests.

Once people formed a party, the party had to do the same quest. And said quest was based on the member with the highest level. In Luna's case, her members were all one level below here; therefore, they all had to attempt the same quest Luna did. Members with lower levels could postpone the missing quests to join a party right away, but they had to clear those quests on another occasion, or they could choose to take a special quest designed by a section's Supervisor to catch up quickly.

Erik used that explanation as the main argument for not letting her join them, as their gap was too wide. It was not rare that a party consisted of members whose gaps in levels were wide, but they could still manage it by having each other's support. However, Erik reminded Luna to view them as irregulars.

But as stubborn as Erik was, Jay was able to convince him to put the final decision on hold, wanting to observe Luna for her next quests and even teach her a few things, so that she could become stronger and survive on her own. And once she caught up to them in terms of cleared quests, then they would reevaluate her. That was why Jay was accompanying Luna, whereas Erik was busy with other stuff.

The first thing Jay told Luna to do was to form a temporary party. Not only to make her current quest easier for her, but also because she had to learn how to fight alongside others.

"Look! Killer Rabbits!" Carl alerted the others, unsheathing his sword immediately.

As if they were already veterans, the temporary party called [Dorm Party] got into formation. Randy was at the front, followed closely by Luna and Carl, while Nina was at the far back, readying her bow and arrows.

If one acted carefully, Killer Rabbits were not much of a threat. And seeing that the party was not taking the situation lightly, Jay stepped back from the scene and let them handle it alone.

Without any trouble, the party wiped out the six Killer Rabbits. No one was injured, and their equipment was barely damaged. Albeit appearing like veterans a few moments ago, the group quickly reverted to rookies again, celebrating their first victory like they had won a tournament.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" Jay muttered, smirking at the sight of Luna happily jumping up and down. He might have accepted Luna, but he still wondered why she was so eager to join them, instead of doing things the normal way, like she was doing right now. After all, aside from gathering experience and getting stronger faster than usual beginners, there was nothing in it for her—in fact, there would only be downsides.

The group advanced, with Jay stepping more and more away from the group to let them act without minding him. He was not in their field of vision anymore, but he was hiding close enough to act in case something happened.

As time passed, they were deeper in the forest. The thick trees were blocking most of the sunlight, and the number of sighted Killer Rabbits—monsters who mainly targeted beginners—sank significantly.

"Stay focused, everyone! We're closer to our target than we think!" Luna announced.

The party changed their formation and were now facing each other's backs, wielding their weapons in front of their bodies. They scanned their surroundings and especially analyzed the trees.

"!"

Carl was the first one to get startled when a tree moved. However, it was only because of the wind.

"This scared the shit out of me..." he groaned, blushing a little bit.

"It's coming!" Randy yelled vigorously.

Once he said that, a thick branch was shot at him as if it tried to pierce through the shield and Randy. The attack from the woods was blocked, but Randy was pushed back far away from the group, leaving an opening in their formation.

"Stay close!" Luna shouted at Carl and Nina.

Their focus was directed at the one who attacked Randy. It was a Haunting Tree. And just as described, it moved in an eerie way, moving and extending its branches and body at will. Even the tree's main body appeared to move slowly toward them as if its roots were legs.

Jay watched from afar, but he began to notice something strange. He looked over at Randy, who got up again and rushed to his comrades, but Jay saw something behind Randy—branches that were closing in on his back.

"Are there two of them...?"

One Haunting Tree was trouble enough for a party of beginners, but two of them would be too much. In other words, Jay had to interfere, or else it could end up badly for the party.

"?!"

However, before he could take one step forward, Jay sensed something wrapped around his ankle. He turned his head only to see two other Haunting Trees marking Jay from far back.

"Shit... I let my guard down too much...!"

Jay pulled out his sword, ready to engage the enemies. This time, he could not waste any time and had to finish them off quickly.

"Guah!"

With his back turned to them, he heard Nina's scream. It sounded like a Haunting Tree had wrapped its branches around her body.

"L-Luna! There's another one!" Carl stuttered anxiously. He pointed at the one chasing Randy, who was still unaware.

"I-it'll be fine.... I think...?" Luna responded weakly. Since she had not heard anything from Jay yet, she thought that Jay expected her to be able to deal with the sudden turn of events. However, that was not the case at all.

"..."

Jay took a deep breath. It was not the time to panic.

"Using my exclusive skill would be the safer option, but it would take too long."

He readied himself, pointing his sword at the trees.

"I have to kill them with one strike."