LINKED | Brothers Online Series | BK #1

Chapter 4: Hunting

                   

November 6, 2022 Floor 1 – Town of Beginnings, West Field

Thomas Min':

Karim led me out of the marketplace and down a cobblestone path. We took a right down a small bridge and continued walking. As we walked, my mind wandered away.

I was already so amazed at the intricate brilliance of this game. Everything was just so real. The town, the market, the people. Everything was real. Video game or not, this was real. Every single person, every single NPC, every single thing was real. It's a wonder that reality can even match up with this world.

Deep in thought, I didn't even notice when my brother had stopped, and I ran right into him. He turned around and smirked, "We're here."

I looked up and noticed we were in a large field filled with green grass and the occasional small flower.

'Wow,' I thought, 'That's amazing.' A gentle breeze blew through, and I felt it ruffle my shirt. My brother then raised his hand and pointed to a couple of black moving creatures munching on the virtual grass.

"See those things? They're wild boars. We'll be training on them for the time being." He swiped his right hand and his inventory appeared. A second later, an iron sword materialized in his hand followed by a round wooden buckler.

"A buckler, huh? Not gonna use a kite shield?" I asked.

"Nope. Didn't feel like it." There it was again, that feeling. I tried to write it off as a coincidence, but I couldn't get rid of the suspicion that clouded my mind. What did it mean? I shook my head and refocused on the task at hand. I swiped my hand and materialized my bo staff. It wasn't anything fancy, just a long iron rod about half a foot taller than me. It had small little knobs surrounding the tip and a ridged grip in the middle. All in all, it was your typical beating stick. I spun it once in my hand and nodded.

'Not bad. Pretty good balance.'

I then looked at my brother and said, "Alright. Let's get started. Lead the way bud."

"You got it bro." Karim beckoned me over to the nearest group of boars and said, "Watch and learn." He crouched down and tightened his right hand around his sword. Suddenly, the sword glowed a fierce blue color. With a yell, he lunged forwards and charged right through the nearest boar. It squealed in pain and a large red line crisscrossed with white, smaller lines appeared on its side. Then the beast glowed white and exploded into small little polygons that faded away.

My brother looked back at me and grinned. "So. What do you think? Pretty cool huh?" He walked back to me and I saw a little white screen had popped up where the boar had been. Gesturing to the screen, he said, "See here? That's the basic loot menu. It records your experience," he pointed to a line, "your Col," another line, "and finally your items," a third line. "It's rather convenient to know what you got right away. Besides, you can just wave it off if you don't want to look at it." With that said, he waved his hand and the box disappeared.

"When you kill a mob, you always get its loot. It'll always go to your inventory where you can sell or use it." He opened up his menu and pointed to two items. They read "Boar Tusk" and "Boar fur".

Karim then grinned and pointed to another boar nearby. "Now it's your turn. Go give it a shot."

I smiled. "You got it. Let me show you how it's really done."

Gripping my staff in one hand, I ran forward to the closest boar. It was a shaggy little beast no higher than my thighs.

'I got this,' I thought. No way was I going to let my brother show me up. Empowered by that thought, I spun the staff, lifted it up and used both hands to slam the tip straight down on the boar's neck. With a squeal, it shuddered and one of its hooves struck me right in the man parts before dissolving into little polygons. My HP decreased by about 5%, and I staggered backwards clutching my crotch and consequently falling to the the ground.