Chapter 5 – Setting out

The group, needless to say, has shocked reactions to how I just vaporized the annoying guy, with most notable one being of the woman with no weapon who staggers backwards with horrified expression and almost falls on her butt. Other three guys all take a step back, gripping their weapons tighter, and look at me with shocked, fearful and cautious expressions. The odd one is the mage girl, who almost leaps back with surprise, but afterwards stares at me with inquisitive eyes and a frown.

Quite possibly she is a player, because I don’t see a native reacting so calmly to what I am and what I just did. Alternatively she might also be a very strong person concealing herself who won’t be surprised by such show, but I doubt that for much more than one reason, including her company and outfit.

And surprisingly it’s her who gives me an answer, or actually only increases my number of questions.

“Are you perhaps a Wayfarer?”

I look at her with a frown. “I might be, but I don’t know this term.”

“Wayfarers are people who were sent to this world to train. Or play. I am one of them, got dumped to this town half an hour back.” She says and everything falls into place. A player, to put short. Oh, right, stupid me. Shiva called me Wayfarer once, duh. Now I remember.

I smirk at the girl. “Well that makes things easier. I hope you know where we are then?”

“Um, let us change locations maybe…?”

“Sure.” I nod my head. “Lead the way. Call me Helia.”

“Mhm! I’m Maala.” The girl looks at the rest of her team. “Uh, I’ll be back soon…? You take care of the survivors?”

She looks really cute like that, with her hands interlocked before her and somewhat cowering posture as she looks at the rest of the team as if she did something she shouldn’t and was anxious she will get scolded for that.

Or, considering she is a player, it’s quite likely she isn’t sure how to interact with others.

Um, cute? Where was that from?

“Oh, okay.” The leader answers somewhat relieved, probably because Maala will be taking my attention onto herself and he won’t need to be worried about getting vaporized.

After that Maala starts walking away, having indicated me to follow her, and I do so while wondering why I find her cute, in the more sexual context. Though also... not really. It's like seeing your sister, I guess? I mean, pretty, cute or whatever, but not someone to... push down. Does that make sense?

No idea why I see her this way though.

Along the way it finally hits me how differently I am moving. I’m not sure at what point I started and didn’t realize I did, but right now I’m walking like an ordinary woman would, and woman is the main point here. The way my hips sway and my balance changes as I walk, combined with the fact of having nothing between my legs and something on my chest, feels really natural to me as if I did that for weeks at the very least.

It’s not a bad feeling, pleasant, right and liberating if anything, but I guess with all the fighting that happened my mind finally catches up to all the changes I wasn’t paying attention to.

“So, uh, you are… a player, right?” Maala asks hesitantly at some point, fiddling with her fingers and interrupting my train of thoughts.

“Yup, I am.” I answer noncommittally, pushing the topic of my body to the back of my mind.

“And, um, you are… a demon?”

“That I am. Got it from the generator. I’m afraid I won’t be telling you any details though.” I raise a challenging eyebrow at her.

“Uh, yeah, I… wasn’t expecting an answer.” She lowers her head, nodding. “Anyway, you said you want directions, right?”

“Yup, I’m looking for Riverside more specifically. I got thrown here and the only thing I know is that I am on the southeastern border of Beholder’s Eye, as I’ve said. I don’t know anything else though.”

She looks at me with surprise and kinda annoyed face. “You don’t know where you chose to spawn?”

Okay… That’s an interesting question. I assume that normally you would have more precise choice?

“Not really, I assume it’s a lore thing, like getting thrown out of Demon’s dimension or whatever. I could only choose one of sixteen regions around Beholder’s Eye, and I know Riverside is somewhere nearby, but no idea where and in which direction.”

“O-oh. I see, sorry about that.” She glances at me with embarrassment. “Um, let’s sit here. I’ll make you a rough map. I remember a fair bit of what I saw before.”

I look around my surroundings, noticing that we are in an area that wasn’t burned so much, though there are still signs of fires all around.

There are a few buildings still standing here, though mostly they are scorched and don’t appear stable, and one of them is what appears to have been an inn before. Have been, because right now only two walls are standing and the half-burned roof is covering most of the tables on lower height than it should. Directly, I mean, as in, laying on the tables.

The rest of them are mostly covered in burned wood or they are burned themselves, and there is a large amount of rubble laying around, so much it’s hard to walk without stepping on it.

I experimentally tried to walk with my feet pointing almost straight at the ground similar to how the character was standing during the creation, like a bird to be honest, the thought of which almost making me giggle. It felt a bit weird at first, but worked well since this way I could easily fit my foot into narrow holes between randomly strewn planks and other things. And made me walk closer to Maala, I think, something I corrected as soon as ai noticed it.

Where Maala is pointing at is one of the few tables that remained mostly unscathed, though I see burn marks along with wet areas on it and there are visible pools of water around, signifying that the fire was put out a short time ago.

There are also a few survivors around, but they are either grieving quietly or rummaging through the remains, the rest most likely having gone off to somewhere already.

We both sit by one of these tables and I can finally take a good look at the girl, a fellow player.

She has petite build in general, and her face only deepens her vulnerable impression. Pale blue eyes, long, bluish hair, small nose and round jawline completed by fair, pale skin that seems to shine a bit. Her somewhat baggy, grey-blue outfit, resembling a typical mage’s robe, is simple and covers her figure and head nicely, but is rather short, revealing her calf even with her unimpressive five feet of height.

If you ask me, she gives off a typical little mage vibe. I would say loli mage, but her chest is not to be underestimated, most likely having been made this way through character customization since I don’t see a girl her height naturally having boobs this large.

And as a side note…

“You are not a human, right? Fae?” I ask, noticing somewhat wavering, faint blue wings sprouting from her back. I didn’t pay much attention before, but now that I take a good look, her ears are slightly pointed and her eyes are larger than they should be for a human.

“Huh? No- um, how did you notice?” Maala looks at me with surprise she doesn’t manage to hide.

“It’s hard to see if you aren’t paying attention, but your eyes are quite large and your ears are pointed. And your skin has a kind of glow to it.” I hide the fact I can see her wings since she doesn't need to know about my magic sight.

“Uuh, right…” She slumps down on her chair. “Well, I’m a half-Fae actually, more on Fae side, because I wanted to be one, but full Fae look too different from humans for my tastes. So… yeah. Anyway.”

She shakes her head and looks up at me.

“Come to think of it, why is there no map in this game?” I mutter before she is able to say anything.

“Oh! It’s not that there is no map, you just need to get one. You can supposedly buy one from some mages. Lore reasons I suppose.”

“Mhm. Right. Well, so mind telling me where we are?” I ask. How easily she is led around, eh.

“This place is called Aver’s Crossing. I don’t know if you have noticed, but there is a long rope bridge in this direction. Fortunately it survived the fire.” She waves her arm to my right, which in this case is east, where I can see a large cliff of gray stone and a forest growing on its top, then a thin bridge connecting the far side with this one, disappearing below the slope. “There is a huge fissure or whatever you call it you can either go around, which is very dangerous because of the monsters, or cross by a rope bridge. Anyway, in this direction on the other side of the bridge there is the last town, Silver Creek, but you won’t find anything noteworthy here unless you head into the forest.”

She starts scribbling with her finger on the table covered in coal as she speaks, making a long, slightly curved line, most likely representing the edge of the island. She first marks where we are with a large X, and I know that because just next to it she erases a bit of the curve and draws a long, lightly slanted line that sharply turns around a while later, returning almost to the same point and joining back with the border.

The fissure she was talking about.

A small distance away on the other side she makes a dot that most likely symbolizes Silver Creek.

“Riverside meanwhile is here.” She makes another dot on the map, in the other direction to Silver Creek and slightly further away, and a thin line through it. “It’s called like that because the largest river in vicinity flows here. There are surprisingly no villages on the way, but I guess it’s because anything important stopped at Aver’s Crossing. Anyway, I’m getting distracted. Further away there two or three small villages.” She makes small dots in the charcoal along the edge of the island, then another larger one. “And here is Black Harbor, the largest town in the area. You might also want to know that here.” She writes an exclamation mark between dots signifying Riverside and the village next to it, q bit further from the edge. “Is a large undead site, a ruin supposedly.”

She looks up at me. “Any questions?”

“Um.” I start. “This will be on slightly another topic, but, thinking about rivers, what happens to the water after the river falls down the island?”

Maala opens her eyes wide, staring at me for a long while, then blinks. “I… uh, no idea? That’s… that’s a very good question actually.” She says, rubbing her chin, not noticing she is making it black with the charcoal she has on her fingertips.

I almost laugh at her reaction that makes her look like a little kid thinking intensely about some riddle.

Nevertheless, that’s a good question indeed. The water needs to come back, right? Will it be, like, gravitating back to the ring and, uh, raining from downside of the islands?

Nope, impossible. It should fall back to the ring and then what? Get expelled from it somehow? Shit, that’s a nice riddle. Food for thought, and for later, not now.

Maala shakes her head with a displeased expression. “Scratch that, I’ll think later. You’re distracting me. Do you need any more information?”

“Actually, how long will it take to reach Riverside?” I ask.

I’m asking this mainly because I’ll be logging out at Sunday afternoon, so I have around two full days in game and I’m wondering if I’ll reach it by this time.

“Uh, it really depends.” She frowns. “It’s fifty kilometers away, I think, so if you are quick you might be able to reach within one day, but I’d rather count two or even three. There will be all the monsters attacks and other things on the way.”

“Okay, good enough I guess. Thanks for the info.” I smile, standing up. “I’ll be going now, maybe we’ll meet later.”

“Uh, you’re already going? I mean…” She shrinks, realizing what she said only after the fact.

I let out a giggle at that, and oh god, how nice that sounds.

I don’t let myself get distracted though and indicate my body. “I’m in, let’s say, not ideal state right now, so I want to clean myself up. And get a few things done I wasn’t able to because of the fight. I literally had a wolf jumping on me the moment I spawned.”

Maala looks at me with a bit of confusion, then her eyes take in all the blood and other matter I have on me, which is honestly a… disgusting amount. It’s hard to find a single spot of exposed skin on me larger than an inch squared, apart from my head I took care not to let too much blood on.

Hm, maybe I’ll be able to vaporize all this filth with Stellar Flame? Come to think of it, my clothes also survived my flame didn’t they? I’ll need to check both properly later.

“O-oh, right.” Maala nods, embarrassed. “See you then.”

“Don’t rely too much on abilities. Be creative.” I say as I turn around and walk away in the direction of Riverside without waiting for her reaction.

I bring the chat window into my view and look if the guys were writing anything, and notice a few unread messages from the independent communicator. I mean it’s not the one built in-game and using player names, but the one using real names, more like nicknames in our case.

David: I spawned in a village called Tavensville. I was unable to go straight to Riverside, but it’s close to it. Should we meet up there ASAP?

Alex: Sure, I’m there already. Come over and I’ll do some hunting in the meantime.

Derrie: I was thrown into the forest, but I think I know where I am, so I’ll be coming as well.

Alex: Cool, I’ll be waiting. I guess you Robert are in some shithole with your Hellcarver?

Robert: Actually I’m not sure. I know I am on the edge of the island, but no idea where. I’ll go around and see. The spawnpoint was on the south-southeastern edge though, so I can’t be too far.

Robert: This Hellcarver is some hot shit by the way. I’ll need some time to properly get used to it, but it’s really nice playing it.

Alex: Well, good luck then. Zen, you’re the only one remaining. How are you going?

At this point the conversation ends and I start writing my own reply.

Zen: Got thrown straight into a fight in Aver’s Crossing, so I couldn’t write for a while. I’m fine now, walking in Riverside’s direction. Though I don't know if I'll get there by the time I need to log out.

Robert: Good, so you guys all meet up and Riverside and I’ll try to figure out where I am. Until then we do what we want.

Alex: Sounds good.

Well, alright. So there's the plan.

But hot damn, this body is really incredible. I won’t be doing that for now, but I feel I could easily get to Riverside by tomorrow.

Not only because I am a Demon and because of my stats, which should make me able to run for a long time and quite fast, but it’s just that the shape of my legs is ideal for running. Well, actually I think it’s made for acceleration and flexibility, but even with ordinary stats I should be able to outrun any normal human because of my legs.

As a side note, the Speed stat is measured not by how fast you can run or something, but how fast you move. And if you have better build than humans, like me, then you will be able to reach higher speed with same stats. The same applies to all other body stats.

I take a look at my character to confirm my stats and notice that they got even higher than they were before for some reason. It’s not a large amount, but it’s definitely an improvement.

I also notice a new window by the soul on the sheet.

It says that… my soul’s size is around one and a half and my Demonic Flame’s size is around one fifteenth.

Um, how much is one? Ah, one is the base size of the soul, okay. So the fight from before made me jump to one and a half already? Neat.

Hm. I remember though that it was written my strength depends solely on my Demonic Flame. I wonder how fast it will grow. I hope it’s not too slow.

Well, we’ll see how it goes later, not like I can do much about it. And the Stellar Flame would be quite good compensation if my growth was slower than others anyway.

For now though I’m distracted by how my body moves, and not in any sexual nor perverted way, but it’s just the general feeling.

How my hips sway, how my boobs change my balance. They are little things that every woman gets to feel, but I have a strange feeling as I walk.

It definitely is way better than my real body.

And I’m not talking only about my strength and flexibility, although it’s a huge improvement compared to before, but it’s just how I can move much more freely.

It only now properly registers in my mind, but what I was doing in that fight were not some amateurish, half-assed, rusty moves, but it was so free, so wild, so deadly, and I just loved how I could jump around and bend my body in new ways.

It was purely instinctual, like releasing a beast you were suppressing for a long time.

It’s like learning to move for the second time, merely it’s much better for almost every reason.

And it feels so liberating to do that, as if I was finally doing something I wanted for years and didn't realize.