Cast Out (Book 1 Done; Book 2 In-Progress)

Chapter 5

CURRENT LOCATION:

Walking through the 2nd layer of a forest where they managed to survive a battle with opponents that were over 60 levels above Zhang and his crew. They are now lost, and have no idea whether they are heading deeper into the forest or out of it. Everyone but Zhang hopes they're headed out.

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A chilly breeze blew past, making me wish that I had on more than just the robe I'd borrowed from Zhang. Goosebumps covered the skin of my naked arms as we walked on. It had started to get colder as the trees grew closer and closer together, and as less and less of the sunlight was able to get through the tree canopy. The plants and vegetation we were seeing now, all looked older. Bigger. Stronger. I wasn't an expert on the wilderness or anything, but it was starting to look pretty obvious that we'd gone the wrong way. We were clearly headed deeper into the forest.

When we were walking through the 1st layer of the forest and into the 2nd, the vegetation had also gotten more crowded, all the trees looked bigger and taller, and there were more exotic plants to be found as well. Clearly the same thing was going on right now.

But if someone like me, who'd lived the city life his entire life could tell that we were headed the wrong way, these guys who'd been playing the game and been travelling all over this medieval fantasy world obviously should've noticed as well by now. Say what you want about them, but none of them were idiots.

'So why the hell is no one saying anything about it?'

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"Alexa, scout around us while we keep moving. I don't want us to end up in an even worse situation than before." Misa ordered.

Of course, I didn't refuse.

Grass crunched silently under my feet as I activated [stealth], and as we kept walking. While everyone else was walking in a straight line, I was walking in a big circle around the group.

It was already getting darker overhead. There were animal calls and the sounds of birds, grasshoppers, and everything else that you'd normally hear if you went walking around in an old forest with no modern roads. I have to admit, it was pretty nice. I have to admit, the company that made all of this knew what they were doing.

'It'd be perfect if only this leather armor I was wearing didn't chafe so much!'

They'd made the game too realistic in some ways!

'I'm a level 200+ person with high quality troll-hide leather armor. You'd think that someone somewhere would've been able to make it comfortable to wear. Even if they could only make it a little more comfortable around the chest, I'd be willing to pay a lot more for it. This thing is killing my breasts!!'

I tried to keep it out of my mind by focusing on something else.

Zhang was at the front again, but this time Washy was following right behind him.

'I feel bad for him. Parents in this age just can't be more creative, I guess. Like the smith from back when I'd first started the game. It turns out that his only name was Smith. It's what his father was, and what he wanted his son to be. Talk about having your future planned out for you.'

I could only imagine what his parents had actually wanted him to do for a living. Maybe he was a retired dishwasher at some inn or tavern?

Zhang was sure that we'd stumbled onto some kind of quest, but I wasn't fully convinced. It was hard to be sure though. Quests in Awakening weren't like quests in other games. You'd never know you were on one until you finished it!