Follow the Kago

Not So Skinny Jean385's

The sun hates me. That's all there is to it.

I stood ankle deep in what used to be the best thing ever. Now, though, now it's just luke warm water in a humid grassland.

Maybe the excitement from discovering a new place, mixed with the disorientation from crossing to a new map caused me to believe this was some magical place.

It definately wasn't.

After half a day of trudging around shooting stuff, I leveled for the fourth time. It was starting to get harder to level, which is to be expected. Except I didn't want it to be.

The frogs were now under me in the food chain, and I sauntered up and slayed half a dozen to prove my strength yet again to the mobs. They didn't seem to care.

I walked to the middle of the map, looking around lazily. A guy ran past, almost crashing into me as he went. I recovered and kept on my path, but a box popped up and blocked most of my vision.

User Jean385 invited you to his party.
[Accept] [Later] [Decline]

I stared at it for a moment, confused. A party invite? For me? Who is Jean385???

I looked around, and my eyes landed on the guy who had almost run into me. He was standing a little ways away, looking back at me.

He had black hair, like mine, and it was really short and slicked back. He wore the default adventure garb; dark, extremely puffy pants and a tan shirt the same color as mine.

I gritted my teeth and hovered over the buttons. Finally, I hit Accept, deciding it might be useful to figure out how a party worked early on in my adventure.

I would no doubt have an endless stream of people wanting to fight alongside me.

Jean385 appeared in the top left corner of my vision, his health bar and a blue bar under it.

He started walking off, but I just stood there, unsure. Was I suppose to follow him?

"Follow me." He said, looking back.

Guess that answers that.

I started off at a brisk jog, making up the distance between us. He ran behind some building ruins, ignoring the level 9 Mooth's around him.

I trotted around them and tried to keep up, but the land suddenly dissappeared.

I blinked a couple times, then noticed the loading bar. 47%. 53%. 99%.

The land reappeared, dark and red and glowing. I was in a cavern. The name Rokoko Mine popped up for a brief second, telling me where I was.

I noticed Jean standing a little too close to me, apparently just having appeared. He jumped forward and took off again, and I followed, looking around at all the lights and houses carved into the cavern.

Goblins ran around, but I didn't think to check their level. They were just decoration to me, my focus on Jean's back as he ran through the winding tunnels.

Another new map.

I appeared and stumbled for a step, waiting for my eyes to focus. The land was rock, again, but lightly colored with gray skies and lots of rivers cutting through.

Two monsters were in front of me, and I selected them while I waited for Jean to load. Level 14.

I backed up, almost teleporting back to the mine. There was no way I was going to mess with something that powerful. I looked up at my status bar, shocked to find I was level 14 as well.

The monsters, Kijimu, bared their splinter teeth. Practically stumps with leaves on their heads, they looked more intimidating than they should have. Seriously. I almost turned around.

Jean loaded in front of me, his arms crossed. I waited to see what he would do, uncertain if he could even match these monsters.

He seemed to think so.

He threw his arms out, two knives in his hands, and leapt toward the first Kijimu. He sliced it to pieces until there was hardly anything left to shatter. A flower dropped to the ground, and he picked it up before attacking the next mob.

You received [Kijimu Flower]

I looked at the chat box, surprised at what it said. So, if he gets something while we're in a party, I get it too? That's fantastic.

You Received [25 XP]

Jean continued on to wherever he was going, and I happily followed after him like a puppy. He seemed cool, strong.

What I wanted to be like.

We ended up at a cave, lighter than the Rokoko Mine. Blobs of blue Moebae scooted around, along with tall, skinny Dragist, and green spiders whose name I couldn't pronounce.

Jean started slaying monsters left and right, running all over the cavern at lightning speed. I stood awkwardly at the entrance, hoping a particularly large spider wouldn't come at me.

"How much XP are you getting?" Jean asked after a while, coming over and sitting next to me so his health would regerate.

"25." I said, sitting down next to him. My still full health bar didn't move, but it would be awkward if I just stood next to him while he sat.

"That's good." Jean said, standing as his hp finished recovering. He ran off again, slicing through a trio of Dragist. The monsters looked like upright ferrets with swords and pointy ears, a dark purple color.

"Should I fight too?" I asked after a while, confused why I was there. "No." Jean said, shattering a Moebae with three hits of his knife.

I'm not sure how you shatter a slimy blob, but he somehow managed.

I sat and watched him for a long time, half confused and half hoping he would keep fighting for hours. I was leveling much faster than I should have been, the green experience bar almost at 15.

I felt guilty, but it wasn't like I was asking him to level me. But then again, why was he?

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See you later, loves !