A First Quest (2)
Chapter 10: A First Quest (2)
Finding the wolf boss wasn't so difficult.
His camp was surrounded by intricate roots and thick trees, with one wide entrance guarded by ordinary forest wolves. Such a setting was adequate for the boss' prestige and turned the environment into the perfect area for newbie players to face their first boss monster.
Jake had spent a few hours meticulously going around the forest to find this area.
Though he hadn't leveled up and was still level four, his stats were higher than players of his level as he had spent his time sharpening his other proficiencies, increasing his essential for archer stats: strength and dexterity.
'That's the boss… he's huge and has silver fur,' Jake thought upon landing his eyes on the enormous existence. Without a doubt, it was the boss.
The game system helped him to confirm his identity.
[The Forest Wolf Boss Lv. 5 HP: 500/500 MP: 100/100]
The boss was at least two meters tall, but Jake couldn't confirm that because his enemy was currently in a nap, curled up on his vast bed of leaves. Even as he slept, he appeared intimidating enough to have people like Jake question whether they really wanted to mess with him.
The wolves orderly guarded the entrance so that no one disturbed their leader's nap while keeping their paws as quiet as possible.
'He has mana… it means he must have at least one skill up his sleeve,' Jake thought. It made sense for the boss to have some kind of skill to give newbie players a taste of the consequence of getting hit by one.
Just like in other games, Jake could have searched for the boss's skills and patterns and prepared adequately against them to walk through him seamlessly. That would have been so boring that Jake didn't even consider going for that route.
Yes, in other games, he had relied on the guidance of other players to close the gap. But this time, he had been shaping his own path and took on the weakest class to go against the mainstream.
Moreover, Jake had quite a different mindset in the virtual reality game as it felt like he was in a different world, not a game.
He was already so much different than newbie players that he didn't want to rely on others and learn everything inside the game, either on his own or through NPCs or players.
'I don't think those wolves are scrupulous in their watch duty… let's try luring them out,' Jake thought. His reasoning could have been explained in one sentence—the wolves were so fearful of the boss that they would rather deal with any intruder themselves than have him wake up to see his wrath.
Jake nocked his arrow on the bowstring and entered his first rigid form. He draped himself in his deep focus through the breathing technique familiar to him, like the palm of his hand, and focused on the first foe.
Once he imagined his trajectory, he let the arrow go.
It lodged itself deep in the wolf's side. The monster fell onto its side and gritted its teeth not to let out any growl.
Before it stood up, however, Jake switched his target and shot another arrow at the second monster. He was so fast and proficient that the second monster hadn't turned in his direction and received the same blow to its side.
The last guard had turned around in Jake's direction. It wasn't so odd since there was one entrance and path to the boss' camp, so Jake didn't even bother trying to play for time with these monsters.
The monster spotted him, yet it didn't help it deal with the arrow. In fact, because it glared at him, Jake left the critical strike on the last wolf as his arrow went through its skull.
It survived it, though.
Which was because the guard was of level three, and the best of the best had been chosen to guard the entrance.
'Alright, I can tell they don't want to wake up the boss!' Jake smiled, 'I might even deal with them before they reach my side!'
It would have been an ultimate win in Jake's book if he were not to receive any blow. With those thoughts dwelling in his head, he rested his arrow on his hand as he nocked it.
His muscle memory was by no means disturbed by his excitement and thoughts as he shot arrows one by one.
Like sitting ducks, the wolves fell one at a time to their sides. One of them had gotten quite close to him, but Jake was much stronger than them and finished it with a casual release that didn't require his usual anchor point.
Level difference aside, Jake's stats were just higher. The wolves were also slow in their rush to him because of their fear of their boss, which all translated to Jake having a total advantage over them.
He wasn't a close combat player, so the guard was a piece of cake to him!
That could have been said to be the archer's edge here.
'Leaves, leaves, leaves… that should be enough!' Jake took out clumps of leaves from his inventory and covered the wolves in them to not let the boss wake up to the smell of blood.
Though he may have secured his first small victory on this adventure, his advantages of being an archer could easily backfire on him now that all that's left is the boss.
Jake, however, had been learning more about archery in the real world and practicing his ideas in the game world.
'Time to put them into real practice,' Jake entered his rigid form, which, for convenience's sake, he'd named the soldier form. 'Let's do it.'
He drew his bowstring and reached his strongest anchor point as he loaded all his strength into the bow.
The arrow flew forward!