Jungle of Nāve

@N유✞ aventurine He scans the menu options as he finds the monster tab, opening it up. It seems this area doesn’t have too many threats. They can either fight another khidot or go more adventurously to a bagha - which seems like a lion-like monster. Not too appealing of a thought. Or a pandis, which use spells to attack and shy away from people. From descriptions alone he mights to find a pandis or two to fight since they don’t seem as scary as a bagha. “Let’s search for a pandis to fight. But Rin just be careful to not get hit or anything by it.” He says and chivalrously pats his chest. “Just let it hit me or something.” knowing she might scoff at him for that or something.
(2/2)

@N유✞ aventurine It seems Jongin will be the sacrificial lamb for whatever monsters they will face. Which isn’t too bad considering he is physically strong right now but it might pose a threat when they face a higher level monster. It seems they’re all on the same page about monsters thankfully as he nods slowly. He pulls up the in-game play guide to see what monsters would be lurking around this area. He thinks maybe they could take a C leveled monster so long as they’re careful Soojung doesn’t get hit a lot right now since she is close to ranking up but not quite. The last thing he wants is for any of them to do - though as they progress it’s a stronger likelihood.
(1/2)

@C웃➶ monggus_dad "We should maybe combine both suggestions," Soojung says then. "I think I will rank up soon. My EXP bar is almost full, so I guess I will reach my next rank after one more killed monster maybe. We can still go to the city after I've gotten my rank up gift and by then we would have a bit more gold accumulated, too. Does that sound okay?" She asks, just to make sure. There shouldn't be any objections though, and since the other two don't react much to that, she adds another plan.

"Okay, so this is how we should do it. Mong, you go first and choose a monster, preferably one that is far away from its peers. You attack it first and try to hold it down. Princess and I will join once you've started fighting."

(2/2)

@C웃➶ monggus_dad Soojung listens and is pleased to find Jongin making reasonable suggestions for once and the other teammate seems to be a strategist, too. Maybe they're used to form plans for further actions in video games, a thing Soojung has never done before, but that does not mean that she doesn't know how to use her brain and plan actions and their next steps beforehand to ensure a smooth journey - as smooth as it could be at least. With Dhana Zamina being a rather realistic game it will most likely reflect life with its up and downs and that would mean that after a streak of luck there would be something really bad lurking for them somewhere, an army of khidots attacking them at once for example, or maybe a boss monster even.

(1/2)

@C웃➶ monggus_dad "How about killing one or two more monsters and then going back to the city and see how much money we can get for the ethers?" He suggests and points at the third one in their group, Rin.

"Maybe we should wait until she levels up before we go to town and spend gold on stuff that she might win in the lottery." It's a reasonable suggestion he would say, especially, since whatever item Rin would win, even if they couldn't make use of it, at least they could add that to the ethers they were selling. It might even be enough to get a third weapon for Jongin, though Sehun isn't too sure how much the archer would have to spend on both bow and arrows. Jongin would have to keep buying arrows and refilling his stocks, too. An expense the older boy probably didn't think about before choosing to play an archer.

(2/2)

@C웃➶ monggus_dad "Do we even know how much money we would get for selling the ether at the moment?" Sehun asks, a bit doubtful. He's one of those players who like to hoard all their items and possessions, only selling some when it is an item they could not use. For example, if Jongin wasn't in his team, he would have sold the cloak already in hopes of getting his wand for that. Since reselling items usually didn't give them the price of the item's worth back though, Sehun thinks in this case it might be better to keep all their ethers.

On the other hand, the prospect of finally getting a weapon and make use of his talent and spells is far too attractive to reject right away, so Sehun is somehow caught in between.

(1/2)

@N유✞ aventurine He equips the item as he pulls out both his money and the ethers since neither would be useful to him. He hands Soojung the coins and holds the ethers out until they decide what they want to do with them. If they had at least two of them with weapons and Jongin with his fists he thinks they would have an advantage over whatever monster they might face as long as it doesn’t outrank them. That way they could at least kill monsters more quickly for more gold - then get another weapon and whatever else they might need. Now that he thinks about it since they can evenly fight C monsters they can gain quite a bit more coins now. It doesn’t seem so hard as N monsters. Jongin cannot wait to rank up until B so they get enough money per kill to actually afford something. After B it seems to get harder and harder to get enough stats to rank up. However if they fight some boss monsters that would be nice.

(2/2)

@N유✞ aventurine Jongin’s head begins to tick as he contemplates their choices. He figures despite their differences in thinking that the three of them would work well together - he wonders what would happen if they ever go about finding more members for their team permanently or just for some times. He figures they might need another person before they can do a quest but it will be decided when it comes up in the future. He takes the cloak and offers a smile. “You two can split the ethers I have since I cannot use them or- maybe we could sell some to get Princess a weapon too? Since I am physically stronger than her it wouldn’t be hard for me to fight hand-to-hand combat. I am not sure how much you guys would want to sell considering you’re both needing them.” He says with a tilt of his head.
(1/?)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad "The question is if we should continue fighting like this or go back to the city and get at least a staff for me or a weapon for one of you two," she speaks up. There are both pros and cons speaking for and against of both options. If they continue fighting here, it might take a long time until they have accumulated enough gold to buy weapons for all three of them. But if they decide to go back to the capital, that would take some time, too. After all, they would have to go all the way back to Renivohitra City, a thing Soojung is not too keen on, not only because of the climate, but also because she's just arrived here. She doesn't want to get going again. But this is not about her alone, she has teammates, which is why she ends up asking. "So, what would you prefer to do?"

@N웃➶ monggus_dad "We don't have much," Soojung sighs after the other two sum up their possessions. She has hoped that they would have killed enough monsters to accumulate a decent amount of gold, though after seeing their struggles with those monster apes she should have known not to get her hopes too high up. If she's jumped in just a little later, who knows, maybe those two would have been dead already.

"I have the starter kit and 14 gold only." She says. "If we add all of that up it's 45 gold. I think that is how much an N staff costs, meaning we can afford only one weapon at this time." Not a lot, but at least that would be a beginning. They could work from there.

(1/2)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad "Here, your cloak," he says and hands over the cloak before he reports all of the items in his possession: the clothes he is wearing, four potions, one ether, one v-potion and that's it. The cloak is now Jongin's after all.

"Oh, and I have 16 gold," he adds. "Not enough for a weapon." He sighs. It will take a few more khidots for him to save up enough money for his first weapon. Unless he's selling the cloak he's gotten, but Sehun is pretty sure that it's better to keep the cloak than to sell it. Jongin's stats being boosted would mean the archer to be a bit stronger and hopefully a bit more capable at fighting monsters and protecting Sehun and Rin.

(3/3)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad As they're checking their inventory, Sehun takes out the cloak he has won as gift item. It's texture is a bit rough, but the dark red color is actually pretty. The cut makes whoever wears that cloak look a bit like little red riding hood though. He thinks it's ridiculous to put that on Jongin's dwarf form, but he's the only one in their party who can actually make use of the cloth. It would have been better if Sehun had won an item he could use on himself though. After all, he needs the extra boost in stats. Being a combination of Dwyrainian and priest might make him a powerful mage - once he has a wand to use that is - but it makes him relatively vulnerable, too. Jongin is stronger in physical combat than he is, a lot stronger actually, and one punch from the khidot hasn't hurt Jongin's Zapadian avatar as much as it did to his.

(2/3)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad Rin is kind of intimidating Sehun thinks when the girl starts going into serious mode. It's one thing to be decisive, but it's an entirely different thing to be so... bossy. Not that it's a necessarily bad thing, but it makes the newest addition to their team seem a bit cold. Sehun is not too sure if they will get along that well, but for Jongin he's willing to try. After all, Jongin and Rin are friends in real life, right? Though Sehun's not too sure who that girl might be - Jongin has referred to her as female when he talked about her earlier so Sehun assumes that Rin is a female in real life, unlike him who is a male playing a female character in the game. Maybe they're classmates, he thinks.

(1/?)

@N유✞ aventurine He tilts his head. He’s not sure what is the best route of action. He turns to Soojung with an expected expression because it seemed best for them to follow her word rather than his own. He does not have much a logical mind given that he tried to kill a rabid monkey monster with a stick. Thankfully, Princess had warned him quick enough. Between them all they all have a good amount of resources. “Well, maybe just first get you a staff? There is a higher chance of us dying than anything else.” He says. “It would be nice to have that security blanket to at least know if something bad happens and use all our potions that we have your abilities.”
(2/2)

@N유☥ milktea_princess He smiles at Princess happy she does not find Soojung too demanding, even though right after he flushes red. He can feel his avatar’s face warm as blood rushes to his face in embarrassment at his mistake. There was so much information not only in the guide but to know. He thinks he knows the basics but of course Soojung is there to tell him when he is wrong - something he loves her for but fears her for as well never knowing when she was going to embarrass him or call out his bull.

He opens his item slots as he skims through his inventory and his money. He does not have much but it is better than starting out with nothing at all. “I have the starter kit, 31 ethers, and 15 gold. Not much but it is a start.” He says with a tilt of his head.
(1/2)

She turns into serious mode right after that as her competitive nature shows. That, plus she hates the feeling of helplessness and weakness, so she wants to rank up, too. After all, both her teammates have successfully managed to level up already.

"We have a general strategy now," she says, "but let's try to figure out what we should do next. We need to look through our inventory and see what items we have and if they will keep us safe for some time. If we have enough money for a first weapon though, I suggest we go get that before continuing to kill monsters. As you two have proved earlier, two monsters are too strong for you two and I guess even with both of you being Rank C it's gonna be difficult if each of us have to fight one monster each. I have 14 gold and my starter pack now, how about you?"

(2/2)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad It's clear to Soojung that milktea_princess is just as naive and childish as Jongin is. The question she asks sounds much like one Jongin might pose, so all she can do is let out an exaggerated sigh. "Whatever you fancy," she says, dismissing the talk about a shortened version of her username for reasons of practicability. There are more important things to talk about, such as how they should fare now.

"In case you haven't noticed, Mr. Mong," she says, using her newfound username for her friend. "Your health bar is already at its max. Any more and it will burst. Who knows, if you try to fill it with potions you might burst, too. This is a video game after all." She knows it's unreasonable, but the image of Jongin's character imploding seems funny to her.

(1/?)

"Welcome to our team," he says once aventurine's username turns green to mark her as party member, and then turns to Jongin. He almost makes the mistake of calling Jongin by his real name instead of is nickname, but luckily he has caught himself before the name can pass his lips. His mouth is just open for a brief second without a tone coming out. It looks comical, but at least he can blame the game for that, saying that it was lagging or maybe a glitch.

"I got an N archer robe for leveling up," he tells Jongin then. "I guess it's of a better use for you since I can't even wear it," he huffs. "Unless you don't want it. In that case I'll sell it to buy a wand. We need weapons after all."

(3/3)

"I'm not intimidated," Sehun tells Jongin. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Rine will make a good leader, but wait, let me invite you." He has almost forgotten the most important thing: letting aventurine join their team. In case they are getting ambushed while talking it would be better if all three of them have formed a team together so all three can fight the next khidot together.

He feels rather silly as he says those words to send both a friend request and a team invite to the priest, especially when he has to spell out the name. It's an odd thing, more so because he's not sure if his in game lips are moving or not. They can't hear him saying "sending friend request to a-v-e-n-t-u-r-i-n-e" but maybe they can see his lips moving?

(2/?)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad Sehun blinks as the other girl starts talking. She's talking a lot, Sehun notes, but it doesn't really bother him. She's a bit bossy, yes, but for Sehun that works fine as long as she's not the kind of totalitarian leader. He's not one to open his mouth and object that easily, but if people are unreasonable, he will voice his opinion.

There's not much he's disagreeing with though. Aventurine is pretty reasonable with her suggestions, so he nods, agreeing because that is the easiest thing to do. Except for -

"Can I call you Rin? Or Rine? It sounds nicer," he says, smiling softly at the girl. She's not a bad person he supposes, otherwise Jongin wouldn't be friends with her, right?

(1/?)

His lips press together to fight away his smile since Soojung is being very Soojung-like. “Princess do not be intimidated by her.” He says with a laugh as he wipes his forehead thankful they survived. Since he already friended Soojung he thinks that Princess might be the one who needed to invite her. “We can do that but I want my health bar to go back up some so I can comfortably attack something without the fear of dying immediately.” He says. “Does that sound okay with you Princess?” Since he does not want Princess to feel forced with what Soojung might demand since she says things without it being really an option for them to refuse. He will be the peaceful middle man.
(3/3)

It does seem to be so when the khidot is defeated and he can relax some feeling his own body warm up and glow when his congratulatory message pops up informing him he is ranked up and received 30 ethers as a randomized gift. That was not too bad since Soojung and Princess could use it but he wish he would have gotten lucky with a weapon or something for them. That would have been the best scenario for Jongin, he thinks. But alas that was not the case. It’s just like Soojung to start giving orders and he forgot if he warned Princess that she was bossy - though he figures Princess is not very outspoken and Jongin has no desire to take a leadership role between them.
(2/3)

@N유☥ milktea_princess There is an immediate sense of panic when Princess does not go to attack and stands there idly. He wants nothing more than to shake sense into her but cannot let go of the khidot if he does not want someone to die. They probably look comical with a giant monkey and three players surrounding it and halfway hanging onto it to restrain it’s movements. But once Sehun glows and lights up like a scene from a manga where a magical girl is transforming. It only suites the pretty elf as she ranks up. Jongin bets it’s nice to feel powerful since Princess is now a higher rank than the monster before them - it should give them an edge he hopes.
(1/?)

[ ✓ ]

@N웃➶ monggus_dad "Alright," she says then, being the first to speak up among the three. She's not to much of a fan of awkward silences and if given the chance, she takes the lead. It doesn't seem like Princess has a similar strong personality like her, and Jongin, well, it's /Jongin/. Jongin never complains nor does he talk back when Soojung makes a decision. After all, she's smarter than him, a thing her friend has acknowledged at an early stage of their friendship.

"You're the friend monggus_dad - can we shorten this to mong? - was talking about I assume. You can call me aven for short I guess. Anyways, this is how we are gonna proceed: you invite me into your team and then we'll kill monsters together. Always all three of us taking down one together until we got enough for weapons, then we leave for the city. Any objections?"

( 5/5 - it's your turn now ouo )

@N웃➶ monggus_dad "Really? Just 5 coins?" She asks in disbelief. "After all the struggle we went through, this is kind of petty." She huffs in annoyance. She's only got a dozen of coins and if every khidot brings them only 5 coins, they will have to kill another six or seven of them to have enough money for her staff, and only hers alone. The two others need weapons, too, otherwise they wouldn't have fought with their bare hands.

She picks up the coins - attempts to, that is, because there's a warning on her field of vision, saying it wasn't hers. Apparently, only the one who killed a monster could pick up the coins, so she prompts both Jongin and Princess to do so before their gold follow the dead khidot to wherever dead monsters and abandoned drops are going.

(4/?)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad It's after that that milktea_princess starts moving again. It seems like a proof to her assumption that ranking up must feel like being reborn or being empowered because the elf is moving with an agility she hasn't seen before. With the rank up, her kicks and punches must be stronger, too, at least that is what Soojung hopes, though she is not sure if an elf's physical strength as C rank could rival a Zapadian N rank player - their physical strength might just be similar with a Zapadian being stronger still.

She's getting tired of hanging off the khidot's back. It's getting increasingly difficult to stay on its back as the ape seems to shake more and more with every punch it receives. It's only when the health bar turns to zero that Soojung lets out a deep breath and jumps off the monster's back just in time before it turns into a dust of pixel, leaving behind lousy five gold coins.

(3/?)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad Princess's avatar is glowing for a moment, blinding everyone around. It's probably the character ranking up, Soojung thinks as she squints to watch the spectacle - a spectacle that is pretty short and not as exciting as it should be, but she knows from other games she's watched Jongin playing that that's how leveling up looks like. Maybe it's different for the one who's ranking up though. After all, this is the first time people could rank up in a virtual reality game and thus the feeling must be amazing. She imagines to feel stronger and refreshed after ranking up, considering the health bar filling to the max again. She'd have to ask Princess how it feels like because for her, it would take some more time until she could level up.

(2/?)

@N웃➶ monggus_dad Soojung is certainly not amused when she realizes that it's not a glitch in the system. Her attempts at hitting the khidot are futile when the health bar doesn't seem to change at all, and Jongin's explanation is reasonable. It frustrates her that she can't contribute much because clearly, milktea_princess is struggling with this ape. All she can do is cling on the khidot's back and annoy it as much as possible and hopefully rendering it immobile, too. Considering her shortness though, she is no match for this monster; it keeps wriggling and moving, still, though a bit slowed down compared to moments ago.

"Princess, don't just stand there!" She hisses when said princess doesn't seem to move at all. A moment later, she understands.

@N웃➶ monggus_dad Sehun swings his fist and aims it at the struggling khidot's stomach. That's where Sehun supposes all the vital organs of an ape-like creature to be, though he can never be too sure as this is a video game and not real life. The khidot is clearly distressed as there is aventurine hanging on its back with a hand now covering its eyes to take away its vision, but there is Jongin, too, who is holding on to that monster in an iron grip.

The khidot only has one free arm to hurl at Sehun, but that is easy to dodge. Sehun is positive that it's just a matter of time until the monster is killed as he watches the gorilla's health decreasing with every well placed punch or kick. Hopefully, the screams of agony and fury aren't attracting any other khidots or else the three of them are doomed.

(4/4 - please wait for soojung's post too xP)