Shen River

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In the end she decides to simply continue her journey. After all, Jongin is waiting for her and if she's taking this much time, who knows, he might ditch her. But that would mean having to deal with her wrath later and Soojung's pretty sure that her friend is far too scared to do that. It's not like Renivohitra is a particularly nice place either. From what she can see, there is lots of industry there, the houses kept monotone, ugly and grey. It seems like the whole of Ipar is a rather sad place. She's glad she didn't chose to be Iparian.

Leaving the city behind, it's not much longer that she finally spots some green color for the first time. It's far ahead, but she's almost reached the Jungle of Nave though, the dot on the map that is red is moving closer to the green dot that must be Jongin.

[ 8/8 >> Jungle of Nave ]

The monotony of the landscape is annoying. In no way does Soojung require that much excitement in her life but walking through the desert and seeing nothing but an endless sea of sand somehow affects her mood. She thinks she's only growing grumpier with time, despite the few glimpses of blue she catches from Shen River, but that too is getting boring because there seems to be nothing else apart from it.

It takes her another minute to come close enough to Renivohitra to spot something new at the horizon. It's five minutes (read: an eternity) until she actually reaches there. Now she has two options. She could make a stop in the city and browse through the shops in hopes to find cheap items. Who knows, maybe the prices fluctuate here, though she is doubtful of that.

[7/?]

She's still on the run. The landscape doesn't change much. There is sand everywhere she looks, apart from the river that doesn't seem to dry out despite the horrible heat. She decides that she doesn't like Ipar at all, and although she almost got killed in Esia Forest in Zapad, it's still better climate-wise. The dry heat is impossible to endure, and although there is Shen River with its promise of a chance to cool down in the desert, she's smart enough to withstand temptation. There are strong monsters waiting for those who come too close. Soojung's pretty sure that here, too, she will find aggressive monsters among even the friendliest creatures. It's better to stay away.

If only she could run faster, she thinks, not liking how slow she is, paired with the shortness of her every step. She's taller than her Zapadian self in real life so it's rather frustrating to be this slow. It's almost as if she's not moving at all (this is an exaggeration of course, because the red dot on the map that shows her own location keeps inching closer to Ipar's capital.

[6/?]

Speaking of the devil, she remembers that she still hasn't replied to his private message yet. She first got distracted by the tokki ambushing her and then simply forgot. Now seems like a good time to send him a reply back, just to make sure that he knows she's on her way and that he should better wait for her there instead of wandering off somewhere else with his friend. So as she is running towards the Jungle of Nave, Soojung speaks up, finding it incredibly weird to send PMs in this way, but at least it does the job.

"Sending PM to m-o-n-g-g-u-s-underscore-d-a-d: I'm on my way to the Jungle. You better wait for me there. PM end." She sighs as she feels more frustrated than happy playing this game - especially since she has to spell out Jongin's username every time she attempts to contact him, not to mention that he has abandoned her to fend on her own. Jongin's so gonna get his kicked.

[5/?]

She thinks it must have been luck that the one hit from a B ranked monster didn't kill her immediately. It is merely thanks to the fact that the fireball the khilua has spit at her didn't hit her directly. It flew past her, but if a narrowly missed blow from a B rank reduced so much of her health points she rather not wants to find out how many HP she will lose to a direct hit. A C rank seems no less scary than a B rank, especially when she has to wrestle with a monster of the same rank for what feels like an eternity until it's defeated. So yes, it's better like this, running along the river and hoping that she will find Jongin as soon as possible.

[4/?]

On the other hand, there is no guarantee that further apart from the river there wouldn't be any other creatures waiting for a prey like her. Soojung's in game character is not only slow but unarmed as well, the robes she is wearing as well as the pair of shoes don't protect her from hits and blows as much as she wishes them to. She doesn't have much money for better items either, and if it's about items, then she can't afford to buy any of them because she needs to save up the little money she has and makes for the most important thing to a priest - her staff.

She is almost tempted to draw closer to the river again to search for any low level monsters that she could possibly try to kill to make some more money, but as she walks along the river, always paying attention to keep a safe distant away from it, she only spots those ninins and hemas, seahorses that are C ranks.

[3/?]

But theories are only that - theories. They don't actually work like that in real life, or should she say in virtual life as well? She's walking past ninins these time, pretty looking fairies in cute dresses with wings that are blue in color and their hair is a deep, deep blue as well. But despite most of them being tame and friendly, Soojung can spot one among them with a frown on her face. She's an unhappy ninin and unhappy means aggressive as the red name hovering above her suggests. And with ninins being B ranked as well, Soojung thinks about staying far, far away.

While she initially planned to follow the riverbed to reach Ipar's capital, she thinks it might be better to steer away from it. There surely must be other monsters, too, not only ninins, and who knows if they weren't even stronger than the B ranked water fairies?

[2/?]

She's calming down considerably now as there is no monster threatening to kill her at the moment. Soojung knows it's just a matter of time (and luck) until she'll encounter the next dangerous creatures. But hopefully by that time she's joined Jongin and his friend already. In a team she'll feel more secure.

Surprisingly, the injuries on her back are healing up rather fast. Probably, it's because this is a virtual world that things work that way. It's good though. Once her health points are regenerated and full, she continues on her journey, deciding to jog from now on, instead of walking leisurely as a slow pace encourages monsters to ambush her. If she simply brushes past them before they actually notice her, she might be able to save her . That's the theory she has, at least.

[ 1/? - the start of "Jung Soojung's adventures at Shen River" ]