Heroes or Hermits

Before leaving they had bought heal pots, which only need be drank to work and they were off to the capital. The world was as beautiful as the first time they saw it, with the early morning animals out eating at the grass and chasing each other around it seemed like it was going to be a nice trip. The main road wasn't known for having many monsters but there were still a few that came across their path, mostly the HopChomps they saw yesterday and then a wild pack of WereRats that rushed them. They were easily handled by the few who were starting to understand, Vixen with her bow, shooting them down from afar and Art slashing at them.

Tophuu was sad when they didn't give him the chance to catch one of the WereRats, as everyone was against it and Meekle even held him back from doing so. In his words they were cute as hell but no one agreed, they looked like they just crawled out of the trash and drooled some blue liquid from their mouths. That was the king of thing Tophuu always enjoyed though, he found a way to like the weirdest of things and we were sure one day he would find himself another WereRat to catch.

The journey was quite calm for them other than that, they didn't have to go through the woods to the left of them or any caves, where monsters truly loved to lurk around. As they got into the view of the capital they realized just how huge it was, stone walls that towered over head and a large castle at the far end of the town peaked over it. The houses were built much better than those of the village and looked like full sized family houses as well as in door shops and restaurants. Their jaws dropped at the size of it, it was a grand site and brought them so much joy to see a whole city that wasn't brought to ruin. The roads were made of cobble stone and people even took carts and carriage to get through town, others walking and more people in this one place than they could believe.

"Thank you again, we are sorry to have been so much trouble on you." The traveler announced and held out a bag once more. "Here is your payment, as promised." Art took the bag and once against it vanished and they all heard a clacking of coins as the quest money was added to each of their internal banks.

"The Legion as attacked another village." Shouted a man at the far end of town, the citizens went quiet before whispers started being brushed around as to what they could be after.

"The Royal family ask that any adventurers please come to the castle and help in the quest to stop these outlaws from hurting any more people." The group looked around at each other wondering what they should do.

"It seems as though it is just the next available quest in the story." Fenix explained, "So we don't have to do it. I am sure nothing will change till we take up the quest, so let's just enjoy the town?" Though it made them all a bit nervous having that shouted out through the town they agreed, remembering that this was a video game they were in.

"Also, adventurer, if you are looking for work, the guild hall is a great place to find work, learn about your class type and earn some money. They will also allow you to rent rooms there for much cheaper than the in, that is if you are an adventurer." The traveler gave them another bow along with the sister before they took their leave, heading towards a small baker's building.

"I say we check out the guild hall then." Meekle said, hoping to finally figure out why he looked so normal and plain in comparison, he tried to not let that show in his choice to go.

"I agree, we need to figure out what classes we all are, that might help us be able to use our power." Vixen said with a stern nod of the head, hear arms crossed.

"Agreed, plus having quests as an option for money wouldn't hurt. It isn't main story so we won't have to worry about progressing if we choose to just live peacefully here." Fenix explained and then continued babbling on about the stats and types of quests there could be, the only one really interested was Art as he wanted to hear more about the quest options they could have.

They headed straight for the guild hall, which wasn't far off from the castle, where knights stood outside urging adventurers and warriors to join them in the fight against the Legion. The city itself was an oval shape, with a long street down the middle and then many side streets that led around the town, the guild hall stood to the left hand side of the castle and looked a lot like an old cathedral, with stained glass, designed to look like a knight fighting an evil darkness. The inside was large, the ceiling stood high and the walls and floor covered in a vibrant cherry wood, tables lined the hall for people to sit and gather as well as to eat. A bar and kitchen standing to each side of them and in the front a main desk. To the side of the main desk were sets of stairs that led to a second floor where the rooms were kept, behind the desk was a door that led to another room that most likely led to a back room, though no one was really sure about that.

"Hello and welcome new adventurers." An excited girl said from behind the counter, her long red hair flowing down past her shoulders, her green eyes hidden behind a set of rounded glasses and wearing a long dress with leather armor strapped over it. "It is lovely to meet you all, I am Anastasia but you can call me Ana." She waved in a lively manner and urged them to join her at the front desk. They all looked at each other wondering just how to greet such a bubbly person as they all slightly waved back.

"Heya, Ana. We were hoping to find out our classes and see about what types of quests and rooms you have available?" Art was the first to speak and give her a smile.

"Dude, she is a CPU." Fenix said shoving at Arts.

"I know that, I am just not use to greeting people. Besides, she is still pretty." He said, his face feeling warm at the cheeks.

"Aww, that is sweet of you. You are very pretty yourself." Ana responded with curled lips and a tilted head.

"Yeah, okay that was weird. Hi, could we figure out our classes?" Meekle stated as they all stood in front of her, waiting with excitement, all but Meekle, who was nervous to find out what class it was that he had got stuck with.

"Of course, if you could step up one by one." The group was quick to push Meekle to the back, making him wait to find out. Ana placed an orb onto the top of the desk and smiled, "Please, place your hand over the orb and it will announce your class." Art went first, his hand sat atop the orb and a light beamed through his hand, coming up with an information box, much like their menus and alerts. It stated that Art was a class known as a Sword Summoner.

"That sounds awesome." He threw his arms up in the air in celebration.

"That is a great class, though only one sword now you will be able to use more in the future. This class will allow you to summon them forth, as long as you have ownership of them. You may also learn snatch abilities to take them from close by enemies and if you become strong enough you will be able to summon forth multiple blades and control them with magic, rather than holding them physically. I am sure you will enjoy this class." She bowed to him and waved the next forward.

Tophuu jumped at the chance and slammed his hand on it, making a large bang through the hall as he did so. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped in nervousness.

"Ahh, I didn't break it did I?" He said examining it under his hand, looking for cracks or shards.

"It is quite alright, it happens all the time." Ana waved her hand back and forth, as the info box then appeared and showed his class. "Ah it would seem you are a monster capture class. I believe that will match you well." She chuckled a bit as she teased at him. "It is as it sounds, you will be able to capture and summon monsters, as well as command them to fight with you. You can also learn basic hand to hand combat type skills but your main focus will be on capturing. Sadly the main boss monsters of the world are out of the question but other than that, you will have a great time finding and catching them all." Vixen then pushed him aside.

"Okay, my turn." She said with much more excitement than the others expected as she placed her hand over the orb.

"It would look like you got the Hunter and Trapper class. What fun that will be." Ana clapped her hands together, her wrists never parting as she did so. "This one is fairly self explanatory but for your benefit I will explain, you are aware of your bow." She gestured to her shoulder where Vixen's bow hunt. "You will be a master of long rang attacks, to thwart your enemies and keep your distance you will have many traps to set, this will use magic so you don't have to do a lot of heavy work, simply placing a hand over the spot and imagining the trap you would like, the stronger and more detailed traps will take more mana." She nodded her head and then they had to push Razah to the front.

"Come on it will be just fine." Art assured her.

"Yeah, I am so curious. You have the mage style so it should be obvious but let's see." Fenix added.

Her hand shook as she placed it onto the orb, her head turned and eyes shut tight. Not that she feared being a magic, but she didn't like being put on the spot like so, still it popped up and Ana smiled and patted her hand.

"All done and quite impressive. Yes, you are a Mage but this class is known as the Egyptian god Mage." Ana had to hold back her ecstatic joy at seeing the class chosen, "Not many people get this class, it is special. You will have the ability to summon forth the magic of the Egyptian gods, such as Ra and Anubis. Though the title is Mage it will evolve with time and training and you will become a Sage class and will gain some fantastic powers, but I will leave those as a surprise, sense I am not really sure what they are myself." She admitted with her tongue sticking out and a hand rubbing the back of her head.

"What does that mean?" Razah questioned, curious to what a power like that could possibly mean. Her teeth started to nibble at the loose skin at her lip as her curiosity was peaked with this new information. With that Fenix jumped up and plopped his hand over the orb.

"How does this work exactly. It is quite curious as to how such a small orb could give this information. Or does it just illuminate the information that is already there." He stroked at his chin and Ana shrugged.

"Who can say, it is magic after all." She gave him a smile but was quite unsure and really never gave it much thought. "It seems you got the Beast Shifter class. I hope you are excited about that, as you will be able to shift into many different beasts, sometimes it will show more than others. Such as with a wolf, you will really only have the claws and sometimes the ears. But with things like birds you might fully be able to shift, it all depends on the area you are in and what skill set you get for each shift."

Meekle finally pushed Fenix out of the way, placing his hand over the orb with an exasperated breath.

"You all suck, you know that." He said with a bit of sadness in his voice, jokingly but still he was excited to see what it was. He started whispering to himself, "Please don't be a villager." Over and over.

"Oh, how interesting. It says here that you are what is known as a magical girl. How odd that it gave the class to you." She tapped her fingers in a rhythmic pattern against her cheek, her chin sitting in her palm and her other arm crossing over and under her arm. "Well, this is why you look so normal, it would seem." She laughed a bit at the thought, "It is a unique class that takes magical words to transform you into battle form. Next time you are in battle, pay attention to your alert screen and it should give the option along with the words."

"Did you say a magical girl?" Meekles face going dead pan as he stared off, all the others trying to hold back laughter, all except Vixen who pointed a finger in his face and was in tears from laughing so hard. "There has to be a mistake?"

"Sorry, the orb doesn't make mistakes." She threw her hands up and gave him a bit of a pity smile.

"No, there has to be something else? Anything else, please." He begged and she thought for a moment before snapping her fingers.

"Well if you have fifty gold, we can change your class for you." They all looked at each other and at their internal banks.

"Just how much is fifty gold?" Meekles brow raised, with just a bit of hope.

"It would equal the price of one hundred silver coins." His head fell and they all couldn't hold back anymore and joined Vixen in laughter. Art held his hand over his stomach with how hard he was laughing. Meekle gave them a glare but really he had nothing, even he would have found it funny from their side.

"Okay," Art tried to talk through his laughing. Taking deep breaths and rubbing tears from his eyes, "We will just have to earn the money but we will need your help to do it." He said, really wanting to see him transform into his magical girl outfit. "We will take some quests and do some grinding to get the money." Meekles lips puckered in sadness, knowing they wouldn't really give him any other choice he agreed to help get the gold.

"Ana, do you have any quests available?" Vixen asked, trying to be serious as she could as she snatched up the first quest that Ana offered, "Great, we will take it."

"Okay, but it can be a tough one, the bandit cavern is filled with tamed beasts and many thieves." But it was too late, they had decided and weren't listening anymore as they all went over the paper and continued making jokes at Meekle.

"Sorry, where is this cave?" Fenix turned and asked for the group and Ana just shook her head, thinking at what a lively bunch they were.

"Once you leave the city head northwest, where you will see a set of twin peaks, in between them there will be a cave entrance. Be careful not to climb the mountain. It is not safe for beginners up there." She seemed as if this was something known and tested over and over again. That warning made them all nervous but they had no plans on climbing the mountain so they should be just fine.

"All right, mission save the magical girl is on." Art shouted leading the way, with all the others following him in a cheer except for Meekle who was dragging his arms and legs along with them.

They headed outside of the town and turned walking along the side of the wall for a bit, Art still standing in the front, excited to be on a real adventure. Though everyone else wanted to live normal lives he wanted to live a life of excitement in this world. Wanting to see all the land and magical things this world had in it. The others didn't mind, though they wished they could rest some before traveling around the world, but this was a small mission and was not far from the capital, so they didn't put up a fight, plus they all felt a bit bad for Meekle who was stuck with his class till they could get the money, all the while the rest of them excited about their classes and skills, eager to try them out a bit.

The travel to the cave was quiet and simple, small monsters had attacked, the same as they usually saw in the fields, it seemed odd though, there was nothing guarding the entrance to the cave, as though they wanted people to venture into it. They took slow steps inside, Vixen having pushed Art from the front as he was lacking in awareness, shrouded by his excitement, she thought it best for her to go first. She readied her bow holding the string with her right hand and the arrow pointing down at the floor as she walked.

As soon as they were all in the cave closed up behind them, locking them all inside and laughter echoed through the cave. There weren't many paths, though they checked down a few, finding treasure chests, one with fifty silver and the other with a healing pot but it seemed too convenient, like someone was baiting them to go deeper. Really they had no choice with a blocked entrance. Soon they came upon a group of slime monsters bouncing around, their soulless beady eyes staring at all of them before rushing them. The first slime bouncing off of Fenix and doing a bit of damage.

"What the, that didn't hurt but it still damaged me?" Fenix then started rambling about the logic of it and how if it didn't hurt even a little then it should really not take health from him.

"Stop worrying about the logic of it and fight back." Vixen's voice getting louder as she shot forth a bolt that struck another that had launched itself at him.

"Come on Meekle, yo're up." Art said, shoving him forward, Razah joined in helping Art with a laugh as they pushed him to the front.

"Fine, fine." His screen popped up and he gave out a grunt as he spoke the words, "Wi- With the power granted to me by the love of the Fairy Queen, I call forth the gift and ask that you protect me." A light shimmered around him, his body engulfed in it, light a sea of rainbows. He sparkled and his wand grew a heart on the top of it and as the light dimmed he was in a sailor like outfit, with rights that went down to his calf and a bright yellow skirt and scarf tied around his neck to match, a black, tight button up shirt with no sleeves, frills coming of each shoulder and his hair tied in the middle of his head with a bright yellow bow.

All of them held back laughter once more as they watched, though Vixen and Razah both turned their heads as the skirt was a bit small on him, as was the shirt as the buttons stretched trying to keep it together. Art had no problem laughing though.

"Alright Meekle, show it off. Now try an attack." Art suggested as he defended against the slime monsters. Meekle gritted his teeth and sucked it up.

"Fine, Heart beam, Go." He shouted, holding out the heart wand and it shot a beam of raging light that obliterated the slime's away in a single shot. Shocked at how much power it had he stopped and looked down at the wand with a face of pure confusion. But now was not the time for second thoughts, there was no way he was going to stay like this, he thought to himself as he rushed forward.

"Hey, wait up man." Tophuu belted out as he chased after him, the others not far behind before the reached a large gap in the cave, with a single bridge that would allow them to cross. In front of it were two thieves holding daggers, they were dressed in loose rags and leather armored pants, one wearing a bandanna the other with messy and long hair. Meekle tried the same attack once again but it didn't seem to affect them like it did the slimes.

"What, why didn't it work."

"Well that could be based on magical output or it is based on the enemy and the element of the attack, meaning human enemies is not going to be a strong suit for you." Fenix then grew claws from his hands, "Beast form, Wolf." It was a low level form, only giving him a boost in strength as well as cutting damage. He jumped in and slashed at the enemies, trying to dodge the attacks thrown at him.

"Out of the way." Vixen readied an arrow and shot it just as Fenix jumped out of the way, landing next to the rest of the group once again. The arrow slammed into the enemy and pushed him back as the other came forward, lowering his body and readying his dagger for an upward thrust at Tophuu. Art rushed in front and tried to parry the attack but was just barely able to block it, pushing him back into Tophuu.

"Sorry man. You okay?" Tophuu nodded and called forth his HopChopm to attack the man, it bit at his thigh, making digital blocks fall from the messy haired thief.

"All right, at least we know we are doing some damage." Tophuu said with an upper cut punch into the air to celebrate. Razah stood in the back of them, as she was not the frontline type but she wanted to help as well.

"Ra, I ask that you bless us with your light, let the sun shine down on us and burn our enemies." A light shot forth from seemingly nowhere and burned through the room, healing the group a bit while damaging the thieves, the long haired one falling to digital form and leaving only one to go. Art and Fenix shot in, getting in close to the thief that was left standing and releasing a flurry of attacks while shouting out.

"Combo attack, Slashing Sword Claw." They jumped back and the HopChomp rushed him and knocked him over the ledge, clearing the path to the bridge for them. They celebrated a bit, with high fives and first bumps all around.

"Now onward team." Art held out his sword pointing across the bridge and they all shook their heads.

"Wow, that was so lame." Vixen pushed passed him.

"And I thought I looked lame." Meekle said as he ruffled at Arts hair.

"Oh that was such a hard core burn." Tophuu added.

"You need a heal pot for that one?" Fenix continued. Arts head fell and he just continued with the rest of them across the bridge.

"I thought it was kind of cool of you." Razah tried to comfort him, though she was laughing through her teeth all the while. The cave went on quite like this, though there were much more monsters than they had ever faced and they had taken a good bit of damage, going through their heal pots when needed, they somehow made it through to the end of the cave, where a large man sat with two thieves at his side.

"You dare come into my palace, slay my guard and think you will walk out alive. You adventurers have some nerve. No matter, I will deal with you just as I have dealt with others." He said, pointing to sets of armor that he had laying around, it was obviously owned by other adventurers. They all started getting a bit nervous.

"What do we do?" Tophuu asked, looking around at the group.

"We don't have much other choice. Attack." Vixen shouted shooting off a few bows. She rushed to a far side of the cave away from him, dodge rolling as she did so. This allowed her to place a few traps, to her team they would look like glowing markers on the ground but to the enemy it was unseen. Tophuu sent his buddy out to attack one of the thieves, trying to take the minions out quickly so they could focus on the big guy, but he was quick, appearing in front of Meekle and punching him across the room and then back handing Tophuu.

"He is quick." Fenix stated and Art gave him a 'we know' look, which Fenix just shrugged to. The both of them attacked, trying their combo on him but it didn't seem to slow him down much. Fenix rolled away while Art continued attacking but it didn't take long for him to over power Art and throw him to the other side of the room. Vixen let her arrows fly, bouncing off the large man he turned and rushed her, his foot landing into her trap. A large bear trap gripped him by the leg and knocked him down, Razah took the chance to use her Sun Shine attack, giving everyone a slight heal and dealing damage to the enemies. The HopChomp finally finishing off one but his timer ran out and he was forced back to Tophuu.

"Dang it, I was hoping it would get both of them." Tophuu made it to his feet and ran at the other thief, punching and kicking at him in a lash of combos. Fenix joined him doing the same, with the added magical attack from Razah he fell quickly and now all the focus was back on the boss, who was back to his feet and ready for a fight. A bright red light started flowing off of him like fire.

"I think he went into a rage mode." Fenix's voice shaking as he watched the man turn his attention to Fenix and jumping into the air. Tophuu and Fenix both ran as the ground shook and split under him. Vixen shot more arrows but it was no good as he sweet through the room with speed, knocking them all off their feet.

"Damn." Vixen got up, placing a trap as she did so, she had a plan and started rushing around the room setting as many traps as she could before her magic drained, Razah was pretty drained as well. All of them having only one heal pot left for each the got ready as they heard snapping and grinding noises, the boss slowing as he was covered in bear traps they all rushed in to attack, even if they had nothing left, just a bit of damage that could help. They could tell they were getting close and his digital blocks fell from him, he let out a roar and quickly blasted them all away from him, his breathing heavy and his legs wobbled. Vixen shot one last arrow at him, knocking him back and to the ground, turning digital as he did so.

A quest complete screen popped up for each of them as well as a total amount that they earned for the quest, which was about a hundred and fifty gold pieces between them all. They all shouted out 'Yeah' in joy as they stumbled about. Their alert screens all going off announcing that they had bumped from level one to level three.

"I guess we weren't really ready for that fight." Art laughed a bit as he fell over for a moment and took a breather on the ground. A light appeared on the floor near the seat the thief boss was in when they entered and the room itself felt much more calm. They had time to look around and see if there was any loot to be found, Art found a sword that added a few points of strength to him, not much better but still worth the take, as well Vixen found a new bow that upped her speed by three points, which she found to be a very good upgrade. There were also bits of armor but nothing special to be found.

"Looks like it's time to go." Art said, looking around to see if they all agreed.

"I am guessing this is some type of warp point, so that we don't have to walk all the way back out?" Fenix questioned the glowing floor before stepping into it. "Might as well see." He laughed, the rest agreed, though nervously and joined him through.

It did in fact lead them back outside the cave and they started their walk home, all of them tired and beat down, ready for the feeling of a soft bed under them.

"So, do you all think you would be down to do more adventures? Maybe some of the story?" Art asked with an overly hyper voice for what they just went through.

"We don't know Art. I mean look at us, we got beat down in there and it was the beginning of the game and a side quest at that." Vixen blurted out, bringing Art back down to reality for a moment, he nodded and didn't question them anymore. The truth was, this world was much more intense than any of them thought, it was still better than where they came from but they weren't ready for a big adventure or sure if that was the path they wanted to take.