3 3 - Stand your ground

Cain raided the dungeon for the entire weekend. He made several discoveries. The first of which was that only monster related items could be stored in the inventory. Finding a bone dagger from the boss, Cain kept it for defense.

The second thing he took note of was his weapon preference. He had acquired the club that the boss used, but it was too large.

Either the weapons he had from the boss were too big or too small. The dagger had too little reach and the club was too heavy. The bat was still his best option. During crafting, he also solved the problem of having to remake armor. Taking Sunday morning to repeatedly make armor, he discovered a skill.

Quick craft was a skill that took double the resources, as well as 'gold points', to create a random piece of armor. Gold points were coins dropped by the boss. They dropped in amounts of 5 or 7, only enough to create one piece of armor. However, the armor was sometimes of B rank quality. The quality outweighed the cost, and Jack slowly armed himself with a special B rank set.

Quick craft also could be used for hides, but Cain just soaked them on the side while grinding dungeons. Cain hadn't gotten himself much stronger, but he was armed to the teeth. For the first time since that event, he walked into school with a happy feeling.

Sighing in boredom as he went into the school room, Amy got his attention from behind. "Hey.. uh.. I.. I think I've distanced myself unfairly. So, um.." She looked back down the hallway, where her friend waved her on. "So, there's this.." The sound of a crack suddenly cut her off.

It wasn't nearly as scary as before. In fact, they wouldn't have noticed the sound if they hadn't heard the one from the test. "Cain, let's leave!" Amy tried getting his attention, but all he did was look down the hall. "Cain? We've got to get out of here!"

Cain was debating his options. Was this the time to be a hero? A scream sounded down the hallway, forcing him to his decision. In fact, he had already planned this out. "Amy. I need you to leave quickly." Pulling the dagger and armor out of his inventory, he hastily put everything on.

"But wait, are you planning on fighting them? You'll die.."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do. Minus the dying. I'll see you in a bit."

Cain ran down the hallway in his best set of armor. People gave him weird looks as they ran the opposite direction. Just before he could make his turn, Cain found a group of goblins. With a newfound strength, he dashed at them with incredible speed.

Slicing enemy after enemy, Cain killed all of them without hesitation. He began running more to check for other goblins. There were mutilated bodies all over the ground. Holding his stomach, he pushed on. He killed several more that were feasting on corpses.

Running as fast as he could, Cain caught up to the other goblins. By following the trail of bloodied mess, he was able to catch all but one group of goblins. He doubled back. The last ones were at the front entrance, standing off against newly arrived police. By their nature, they leapt. The police fired their guns in defense, sending the goblins straight to the ground.

Cain found himself weirdly standing before them. Just before questions could be asked, the goblins jumped up. They were completely healed. While Cain ducked behind cover, the officers fired again. Cain stepped forward as the cops scolded him for being in the way.

The scolding did not last long. Rising again, the goblins went in for another charge. Cain intervened. When Cain killed the goblins, they disappeared. It probably had something to do with the player status. Killing all the goblins, the police were confused.

After the attack, Cain was given a stern talking-to as well as a warning. Amy had made it out of the building, but felt slightly shaken up. Overall, fifty people died in the incident. Cain went home with a feeling of anxiousness and regret. If he had acted sooner, could he have saved more? There was no way to tell.

Amy and Cain exchanged numbers, using the excuse that school was canceled for two weeks. "Hey Jack, could we meet up after school?" Her cut off idea was to meet up at a park with her friend Margo.

He accepted without a second thought. This was a good break from stress. Surprisingly, Amy had not asked where he got his items and armor.

Cain was sort of counting on her asking, as he didn't want to force her into a decision- The decision of whether to live a normal life or risk things as a player. If anything, he felt a sense of loneliness in his fight against the monsters.

After setting up a time for meeting up, Cain did nothing but grind the dungeon on the days prior. Gathering stats and new items were his goals. Taking to the same dungeon, Cain repeated it all day for six days. He was able to acquire two new daggers as well as some healing potions.

It was on the second to last day when he discovered a skill drop. It was the [Home Instance] skill. Cain used it right away. He could now read the skill description.

'Skill cast cost: 50k gp - Creates a key that when used makes a door. This door travels to your home instance. The home instance is also accessible through the menu. - Side Passives: All instances now upgradable.'

It was vague if this would be useful or not. Cain had 50k gold points on him at the time, but a new room wasn't something he really needed. Instead, he entered the goblin lair and spoke [Upgrade.] A yes or no box appeared, with a cost of 4k gp. The effect was a 1:2 time ratio, where he would not age.

This would double his speed in comparison to real time, which doubled the time he could go on runs. The greed in him hoped that he had just gotten lucky. Hopefully this wouldn't be that common of a drop for other players.

He upgraded the instance without hesitation. Cain then spent the majority of his savings on the home instance key. Almost two weeks of work went down the drain. He did grinding from dawn to dusk to get that much money.

Placing the door in his room, it disappeared into the wall. Putting his hand out, the door was revealed. Now he didn't have to worry as much when his dad came home. He walked inside of the instance. Inside was a single room about 16 feet by 16 feet, as well as 12 feet tall.

Using the remaining gp he had left, he upgraded the home instance as well. Cain immediately went back to the dungeon. The last day he spent looting was really worth two, making his grind 8 days in total. It was finally the day to meet Amy. They had planned to meet with Margo at a park.

The morning of the meet, Cain got an idea. If he could teleport to his home instance at any time, it was like a teleport home. He could enter the instance, and leave through the door. It was a brilliant idea.

He arrived at the park an hour early to test it out. To his surprise, he found Amy and Margo on a bench. "Oh, hey. You're early." Margo was calmly talking, but Amy was quite silent.

"Not as early as you guys. I came early to check up on something. Is it alright if I leave for a sec?"

"Sure, we were just talking." Cain waved as he disappeared into the instance. For some reason, he decided to flex. Perhaps something was wrong with his brain. Using the leave button instead of the door, he found himself back where he was before.

"Oh? You're back... How did you do that?" It was Amy talking this time. What the two of them saw was a particle effect that dissolved Cain's body. The teleport was a lot more fancy than he had anticipated.

"Well, it's because I'm a player." Cain took a brief time to explain himself. At the end of it, Amy seemed troubled.

"Does this mean I will have to fight?" Cain was actually hoping for this response. A doubtful and denying response. While he wanted someone to understand him, he didn't want to put her in danger. Losing her in the process would be the worst kind of experience.

"That's up for you to decide. I chose this because I didn't want to run anymore. All those lives lost, even if it wasn't real.. I just don't want to have to fear that." What had been planned to become a nice getaway was now depressing. Great job Cain.

"I-I want to fight. Can you teach me?" Oh no. Cain realized his mistake. He encouraged her desire to fight instead of lessening it. Even so, he knew deep down that she would have made the same choice. She was a pretty girl, but was distanced from because of her timid nature. It always seemed like she wanted another option.

Cain couldn't refuse. He warned her about the dangers, but she was certain about her decision. The trio walked down the winding paths of the park. Jack told her about the various things she could do, such as the inventory and status window.

Meanwhile, Margo felt left out. She watched the two players wondering if she could become one herself. Sadly, her chance was already spent.