Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Jolly Cooperation

After she woke up just past sunrise it was time for more climbing practice.

[ Climb Skill Level Up! ]

In spite of that announcement, she didn't feel like she was doing any better. What was she doing wrong? Was it because wolf bodies weren't meant for tree climbing? She lost patience, and decided to go on the prowl instead. She had learned that the squirrels did come down from the trees sometimes, so if she kept going around with Stealth active, she had a chance to stumble across one.

Around 5 minutes later she felt a small tickle from Sense Presence that was clearly different from the larger wolves, deer, and birds. She glanced around a tree where there was a faint red dot, and saw that it indeed belonged to a squirrel.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 10) HP: 43/43 ]

It was examining a nut, similar to the first one she had caught. With her upgraded Stealth, she decided to try out Ambush for the first time. She snuck closer, and when she got the feeling that she was in range, she used the skill. Which caused her to lunge forward in a large strike with both paws, crushing the squirrel before it had a chance to see it coming.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 10) Defeated. ]

Huh. That was easy.

She didn't gain anything extra from it, but she still felt satisfied with the result. Hopefully she would find more.

With Stealth back on she kept going, and passed one of those clearings where the mice made their burrows. She wasn't intending to hunt any more of them since they were low level, and didn't seem to have any new skills, but something caught her eye, and made her stop in the shade of a tree. One of the mice looked a little different from the others. For one it was standing still while the others were milling about. It was even sitting up on its hind legs. After a little bit it got down on four legs, moved a little bit, then sat up again. It looked a little larger than the others as well. Sara was able to get just within Identify range.

[ Forest Mouse Lookout (Scout Lvl 11) HP: 30/30 ]

It was definitely a new one. She wanted it.

All of a sudden it looked her direction, and made a loud squeak which caused all the other mice to run, before it bolted itself. She immediately activated Sprint, broke out of Stealth, and chased after it. It was fast. So fast that it probably also had Sprint, but she was still catching up. Longer legs, and likely higher Agility gave her the edge. She didn't know how far away from its burrow it was though. She could just dig it out, but something told her she shouldn't let it get in there. In a moment of inspiration she used Charge for the first time, giving her an even further speed boost. She caught the mouse with her teeth, causing a chunk of damage, then used Bite which utterly crushed it. The taste that spread inside her mouth was... not great. It distracted her from the fact that she still had Charge active, and there was a tree right in front of her.

*BAM*

The tree shook so hard that the owl sleeping in it woke up, the owl in the tree next to it was startled awake as well, a squirrel was knocked down to the ground, and a nearby deer ran off. A pack of wolves spotted the deer, and chased after it, which led to a fierce battle a little further into the woods.

She was barely able to recover enough to see that her HP had dropped to 45/67 before she was suddenly assaulted. Both owls had interpreted that as an attack, or perhaps they were just pissed at her regardless. No matter the reason, they were able to out-range her after after attack, and she didn't last long.

[ Respawn Timer: 02:59 ]

Wait, it's one minute longer now? That sucks.

She wasn't sure if that was because she had evolved, or because she was in a higher level area. She did have three popups still floating in front of her.

[ Forest Mouse Lookout (Scout Lvl 11) Defeated. ]

[ Sprint Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Danger Sense. ]

Yes! Ow...

Somehow her head still hurt, even in death.

Aina? Is it possible to get a concussion in this game?

"Yes. Although it is not as dangerous as on Earth. It is more akin to a debuff. If you rest for about 15 minutes after you respawn, it will go away."

That really sucked, but considering her reward, she thought it was worth it. However she would do her best to not do something like that again. Unless it was really important.

* * *

While she rested she considered Thermal Vision again. She had lucked out with Danger Sense, but it was unlikely anything in these woods had Thermal. It seemed like too advanced of a skill. She vaguely remembered a nature show talking about how snakes (or just some snakes?) could see body heat, but that didn't feel like it was enough to make that conclusion. And the sooner she got that skill, the sooner she could start levelling it up.

Ah, heck it. I might regret it later, but that's a problem for Future Sara.

[ Skill Purchased: Thermal Vision. ]

Her available skills were now just Back Attack, and Endurance Up. Maybe Back Attack would have been a better choice... no. No regret. Regret later. Technically she still had enough skill points for it, but she was reluctant to use up all of them. She might unlock something else expensive that she really wanted.

Even though it was supposed to be hidden information, Aina helpfully added a concussion icon to her display, so she could see when it timed out. Once it was gone, Sara set back out. The mouse thing had seriously side-tracked her, but this time she was going to hunt squirrels for real.

It truly was a game of patience, but she felt reasonably certain that it would be hard for anything in these woods to see through her Stealth, unless they also had Danger Sense. Which was unlikely to come into play for now.

She did test out Thermal Vision along the way, using her MP for the first time, and it was a little disorienting. Her surroundings turned blue, with nearby creatures showing up in red, orange, yellow, and green depending on how warm they were. Usually red at the centre, then cooling down as it went outwards to the skin, which helped with making out the shape of what she was seeing. It was faintly possible to make out the shape of the ground, and nearby trees, but it was really hard. The range also seemed to be quite short, but maybe that was to be expected of a level 1 skill. If she hadn't had her three Keen skills already, maybe Sense Presence would have been equally short.

A squirrel soon presented itself, and she decided to check it out through Thermal Vision before sneaking closer. It wasn't the sharpest image, but it was definitely easier to make out than with Sense Presence. She slowly approached it, and used Ambush once again.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 11) Defeated. ]

Another one-hit-kill. They really didn't have a lot of health. Their strength lay in being able to scurry up trees so you could only hit them with ranged attacks. Of which Sara had none. Unless there was some evolution that could learn magic, she doubted it was possible to obtain a ranged attack until she had hands again. She felt more sure than ever that going the Stealth route had been the correct choice, and not just the cowardly one.

She passed a pack of four wolves while looking for her next squirrel, and they briefly glanced in her direction before moving on.

How are they doing that? Can they still pick up my scent even though I'm stealthed? Is there some way to hide your scent? Or is it just impossible to sneak up on someone with Keen Nose? Maybe you have to be... uh... is it downwind that's the right one? I'm not much of a nature person. Well... I wasn't, at least.

The next grounded squirrel showed up, distracting her from her musings. Same procedure as before. Using Identify and Thermal Vision before moving in, just to gain some experience for both, and then using Ambush.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 12) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 12 Reached! ]

[ Skill Gained: Throw. ]

Eh?

[ Throw (Active): Throw an object with increased force and accuracy. Damage depends on the user's Strength, the thrown object, and hit location. Force, accuracy, and range increase with skill level. Scales with Dexterity. Cost: 1 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

So wait, do the squirrels fight by throwing nuts, and other stuff from the trees? And what good does this skill do me? Do they expect me to throw things with my mouth? I don't exactly have a tail that bends in a way that it can grab things either.

That had to be the least useful skill she had gotten so far. It was probably bound to happen sooner or later, but she still felt a little disappointed. She managed to find one more squirrel, but the only notable thing she got out of it was that Ambush levelled up. It was hard to keep her motivation up, so maybe she needed a change of pace. She laid down under a bush with Stealth active, and checked her level up.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 11 -> 12 ]

[ HP: 67/67 -> 73/73 | SP: 72/72 -> 76/76 | MP: 23/23 -> 24/24 ]

[ VIT: 26 -> 29 | END: 28 -> 29 ]

[ STR: 30 -> 33 | DEF: 20 -> 21 ]

[ AGI: 40 -> 44 | DEX: 19 -> 20 ]

[ INT: 8 | WIS: 8 ]

[ LUK: 44 -> 48 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 3 -> 6 ]

Looked like her Stat Up skills had levelled without her noticing again. Either that, or it was a super generous level up, but probably the former.

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Maybe I should practice more climbing.

She knew she needed to level up fast to reach her goal, but keeping herself focused wasn't always that easy when she was barely holding things together on the inside. It had only been... actually, she wasn't sure how long she'd been in this world... in Moorhold. Over a week? The early days especially had been mainly a blur of very little getting done. Not that she could really blame herself for reacting badly... and the way she had dealt with it was to put off dealing with it. So it wasn't like she had everything sorted, and was ready to move on. It was more that she was wilfully ignoring the problem, and hoping it would somehow sort itself out.

So even if she struggled to find the motivation to keep going, it was dangerous to sit down, and do nothing. Though maybe she should just bite the bullet, and dive into the heart of the issue head first. It would undoubtedly be rough, but... maybe she could make it through, and then feel better afterwards. It really scared her, though.

She started taking slow steps back towards the cave, even slower than she usually moved in Stealth. If she wasn't going to get anything done anyway, she might as well try to take a nap. Maybe she could figure out something else to think about on the way.

A howl rang out somewhere nearby, startling her out of her brooding. After a second's hesitation, she bolted off towards the source of the sound, forcefully breaking out of Stealth with her sudden movement. It took her less than a minute to arrive at the scene of the commotion. A pack of four wolves were fighting three players. Er... Wanderers, she corrected herself a moment later. Actually, based on what she had learned, it was possible some or all of them were Residents, but she didn't have a way of distinguishing them. It wasn't important at the moment anyway.

Even though they had the numerical advantage, it looked like the wolves were losing. With the extended range of her Identify, she saw a [ Human Fighter (Lvl 13, 60/66 HP) ], and a [ Dwarven Cleric (Lvl 12, 49/59 HP) ] keeping the four Timber Wolves (between Lvl 12-13) at bay while an [ Orc Ranger (Lvl 13, 55/55 HP) ] was standing back, and firing arrow after arrow. One of the wolves was flashing red already, two of them were near half HP, and one was still doing okay, while both Fighter and Cleric were only slightly damaged. But with the Ranger focusing on the weakest one it would probably go down if hit with another skill or two.

Sara saw her chance. She had fortunately come in from the side that placed her right behind the Ranger, so it shouldn't be too hard to turn the tables. And it wasn't just because she wanted some revenge for all the times the players had killed her, either. As a fellow wolf it was only right to help out. She slipped back into Stealth, and moved forwards as quickly as she could. With how focused they were she probably could have walked right up to them without sneaking, but her plan was simple. Ambush!

She lunged forward to close the final gap, and dragged both sets of claws down the orc's back. It was the first time she attacked anything wearing clothes (or in this case light leather armour), so she had been curious how that would feel. It did not cause her claws to shred through leather and cloth to ruin the outfit, it was more like they were dragged across the surface. A weird sensation. The armour didn't seem to offer too much defence, since with slightly above double damage plus a critical hit it immediately put her target below 25% HP.

"Argh!" The Ranger cried out. "We've got adds!" He tried to turn around, but only got halfway there before Sara followed up with a Body Slam that knocked him over, and nearly finished him off.

"Oh shit," the Cleric said as she looked behind her. "Hang on!" She stretched a hand towards her ally, probably to use a heal spell, but Sara was faster with using Howl. "Guh! I'm feared!"

Sara finished off the orc with a Bite. Sadly she had not been quick enough to save the weakest wolf, but the remaining three were now glowing with the buff. One of them followed Sara's example by Body Slamming the exposed Cleric, knocking her to the ground, and applying Stun. "Fuck!" It apparently didn't stop her from being able to speak. Even though she was wearing chainmail, the blow had taken a decent chunk out of her health bar.

The Fighter was also wearing chainmail, but he had a shield to go with his axe, so he'd taken minimal damage. But seeing both of his party members get knocked down made him lose focus as he tried to check on them, which made him miss blocking a Rake thrown at him. The closest wolf bit into the Cleric, and Sara rushed to join in, while the other two pushed the Fighter back now that he was alone. The wolves' teamwork was actually quite impressive to see, even if they weren't quite on the level of a well-coordinated player party.

The Cleric managed to recover enough to knock Sara away with her hammer, and get off a heal on herself, but that left her open to another Body Slam, and she was killed off soon after. Then the wolves (Sara included) surrounded the Fighter. One of them used Howl. The fear got resisted, but with the buff they were able to make quick work of the last play- uh, Wanderer. She saw Aina's point about needing practice. Perhaps it would be easier to think of all of them as Adventurers, since she couldn't actually tell the difference between Wanderers and Residents. If only she was able to tell whether or not she gained experience from an adventurer kill...

[ Bite Skill Level Up! ] [ Body Slam Skill Level Up! ] [ Howl Skill Level Up! ]

At least she still got skill experience. Either way she felt pretty smug about finally getting some payback.

"Thank you." One of the wolves spoke to her, and gave her a slight nod of appreciation.

Sara froze for a moment at the unexpected development. "Uh... y-you're welcome." Part of her brain registered that both of them were only making barking sounds that were more like grunting, but she still somehow understood it as speech as well. The function of Aina's communication skill was apparently quite straightforward.

And when she thought about it, she realised that she somehow knew... somehow understood that two of the wolves were female, and one was male, even though there were no obvious physical differences between them from what she could see. Was it an instinctual thing? Or something about their scent?

Both sides just stood there not saying anything more. Sara because she felt awkward, and didn't know what to say, and the other wolves because they didn't feel a need to. Shortly afterwards the fourth wolf respawned. It... he was another male wolf, so their group had a 50/50 composition. With their pack replenished, it seemed like they were ready to move back out.

"Farewell," one of them said as they turned to leave.

"Uh, wait!" Sara called out, and they all turned to look at her. "Can... can I join you? For a while?"

The four of them looked at each other, then back at her. "Yes," was the answer.

Sara caught up to them with a few quick steps, and started walking alongside the pack while ignoring that her tail was wagging.

One of the girls gave her a curious look. "Where you come from?" she asked.

They can tell I'm not a forest native? "Oh, uh..." Sara wondered if she should make up some story, but there was probably no reason to outright lie. "I recently moved here from the field outside the forest. Too many people there."

"I see." Apparently she was satisfied with that answer, as she didn't question it. Neither did any of the others. Maybe they weren't aware that such a thing was unusual for a mob to do, or they didn't care.

After walking a little further, one of them suddenly said: "Deer."

They all stopped, and sniffed the air. Sara followed their example, and realised there was a certain musky scent coming from nearby. They slowly closed in, until the deer was in view.

"Can you do sneak thing again?" one of the boys asked her.

She stared at him for a moment. Wait, so they're able to think strategically? That surprised her. She figured they'd keep doing their usual thing. "Y-yes," she hurriedly answered as she realised she was taking too long.

She went into Stealth while the pack spread out, and she approached the deer as quickly as she could.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 14, 129/129 HP) ]

Whoa, why is it so tough? Is it to stand some chance if it has to fight a pack? I figured they just ran.

She got into position, and used Ambush. As soon as her attack landed, one of the pack members used Howl, and all four of them rushed in from different angles, trying to surround it. Unfortunately the Rally didn't trigger fast enough for her to get the boost on Ambush. It might not have mattered much anyway, because she only took it down to about 90 HP, even with a crit.

So tough!

The deer immediately spun around to face her, and she felt a bit of heat aimed in her direction as it tried to kick her. She was able to dodge, and counter with a Body Slam, but the deer actually stood firm, only losing another 8 HP while it was neither knocked down, nor stunned.

The other wolves joined the fray. It had only been a few seconds, even if that felt like a long time while in combat. Two of them launched flank attacks, while the other two circled their target to keep the deer from suddenly running. She noticed the deer got a second Bleed icon. Did that mean it could get one stack from each opponent?

A kick landed this time because she got a little too distracted by her own thoughts, and it took nearly 20 HP off of her. Then the deer showed why it was classed as a druid. Thorny vines shot up from the ground, trying to wrap around all five wolves. Sara was not prepared to dodge it, but two of the others thankfully were. They both slammed into the deer in response, and one of them actually managed to Stun it this time.

The thorn bind hurt, and chipped off a bit more HP, but it didn't last long, so Sara was soon able to lunge back in just barely before the stun ran out. She aimed a Bite right at the side of the deer's neck, which caused a critical again. In a game like this it made sense that aiming for weak points made it more likely, or perhaps guaranteed to score a critical hit.

The deer struggled a bit more, but soon enough it fell to the combined claws and fangs assaulting it.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 14) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 13 Reached! ]

[ Ambush Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Defence Up (Small). ]

She was surprised that Ambush levelled up again so quickly. Perhaps skill experience also increased depending on the target, rather than being fixed per use. And she was glad to finally get the Defence Up passive. That fight had brought her down below half health. If she hadn't put so many bonus points into Defence she probably would have gotten killed.

It had been a surprisingly tough fight considering it was five against one. The pack members hadn't gotten away unscathed either. The deer had to have high stats across the board. Perhaps it counted as an elite mob. Though now that she had seen its attacks, she felt more confident about being able to dodge them next time. And she had learned that it would be foolish to try to attack a deer all on her own. She wasn't that much of a glutton for punishment.

They continued wandering around. It was actually pretty relaxed. She kept checking out things with Thermal Vision as they walked, since following the others meant she was less likely to walk into a tree. The wolves didn't seem to care about the mice, squirrels, or birds, they only reacted when they got close to a deer. They repeated the procedure from last time.

Since she opened with such a heavy damage attack, it meant that aggro stayed firmly focused on her. Though since she had the highest HP, and (probably) highest Defence, it was probably better for her to tank even if she was technically a Rogue.

The second fight went better, as she managed to get hit less. The only surprise being when the deer lowered its antlers, and rammed her. She managed to partially dodge, so she only got hit with one half, but it was still a heavy attack that knocked her back. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she had seen the antlers glow just before they struck. The feeling of being pierced was not a pleasant one.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 15) Defeated. ]

Even with dodging better they hadn't really managed to do damage any faster, so it took over a minute to bring it down.

[ Rake Skill Level Up! ] [ Stealth Skill Level Up! ] [ Howl Skill Level Up! ] [ Camouflage Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ]

Yeah, these things had to give extra skill experience, since she was getting so many level ups. Come to think of it, maybe Danger Sense was the source of that hot feeling. And Howl getting another level up so fast. Was it because she was hitting five targets at once?

She was starting to get quite tired by that point, so she told the others she wanted to go rest, hoping they wouldn't get offended at her wanting to leave the pack or anything. Thankfully they didn't seem to mind, as they just thanked her for the help, and walked off as calmly as before. She turned to head back towards the cave, then had a realisation.

Uh... where have I ended up?

As they had walked around she hadn't really been paying that close attention to where they walked to. It didn't seem like the wolves had set patrol routes or anything, or perhaps just everywhere in the forest looked the same to her.

Aina? Can you point me back to the cave, please?

"Certainly."

There was a ping in her mind, and she could see a glowing red dot off to her left. Similar to what she saw with Sense Presence, but distinct enough that she wouldn't confuse the two. Like a compass marker. Not really caring about making any stops on the way, even for convenient squirrels, she just used Sprint as much as she could to get back as quickly as possible.

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