Chương 4: The Importance of the Team
"This is getting weirder and weirder by the second... but I think we might actually want to do this." Viola said before anyone could react. "What do you think, Cain?"
The one questioned seemed to be in thought for a couple seconds before nodding slowly. Forming a party would only mean that their already stablished unit would be recognized as such by... whatever was sending the prompts. Since they were going to work like a unit anyways, he saw no harm in forming an 'official' party. Besides, there was something else to consider.
Parties had always been a thing in games. Playing in a party had always had certain points of interest for players who delved in online gaming. Usually, players forming a party would receive more experience, more gold, the drop rate would increase and the overall quality of rewards would also be of a higher tier. This, of course, wasn't without it's downs. After all, forming a party also meant that the level of danger would grow, making enemies or monsters more powerful. But considering how well thought out their team was, Cain saw no harm in doing so.
"Let's do it." He said, everyone accepting the prompt at the same time, before a new one appeared.
[Choose a Party Leader.]
There was no doubt, no in-fighting amongst themselves. Everyone unanimously agreed to have Cain as the leader of the party. No one, not even Cain himself, had noticed that they had unconsciously shifted towards Cain whenever they needed an answer. He was, step by step, becoming a sort of leader for the group. Someone they could rely on when they needed to. Hard work, experience, confidence. He had developed and shown all the qualities that people look for in someone to follow. And to the group, in a moment of survival, it was their instincts who pushed them towards this.
Unknowingly, Cain himself was acting as a leader, thinking of the best for the group, of their safety and how to keep them mentally stable in such a situation. As they say, in a moment of desperation, there is always someone who steps up to the challenge. It was because of those reasons that they didn't find it weird to pick him as the Party's Leader, even if he himself was a bit surprised about it.
"Well... I think we should wait for a bit and then explore the area... I mean... we can't honestly stay here doing nothing." Cain said after the party was oficially formed. "Considering we've been here for at least thirty minutes already."
"Agreed." Everyone else said unanimously.
For the next couple minutes until the Tutorial properly began –though in Cain's eyes it had already begun–, they decided to talk for a bit and get to know each other better. It was a banal thing to do, but Cain insisted in it being important. Working with people you barely know is hard, and unfortunately for him, he was the unknown one. He had barely had any interaction with them before that day, and he wanted to get to know them better and to make himself known to them, so that they could cooperate smoothly when the time came.
"I think we should begin moving now... I somehow don't feel safe in this area." Cain proposed while standing up. "Besides, the Tutorial will begin in a minute, so we don't have much time to move."
"I think it would be wise to do so too." Dwight contributed his two cents while helping Viola up form her sitting position.
"Well... let's get going, then." Cain continued. After helping Jenna up, he began walking in front of the group.
For a full minute they walked straight through the paths of the park –now forest– only to reach the entrance and realizing yet another jarring fact. They couldn't leave the place. A weird, semi-transparent barrier was in place, not allowing them to leave. Seeing no prompt appearing to explain why that was, Cain took the job upon himself.
"This is a comming feature in some games." He began explaining. "You can't leave the tutorial until it is completed."
Their hopes of getting out of that place crushed, the group just dropped to the floor, resigned to whatever they would have to go through. Cain however, was quite glad they had found the limit of the dungeon. Seeing how it was pretty much at the edge of the park, he assumed they had just that area to cover. And while the park was big, it wasn't anything you couldn't traverse in about twenty minutes. If you accounted the possible fighting in-between exploring, it would perhaps take them forty to fifty minutes to complete a dungeon. That was, of course, so long as there were no mishaps.
"Well guys, we should get ready... things are about to get hectic." Cain affirmed everyone. It wasn't that he didn't feel empathy for them, but... "Now is not the time to mop about our situation, we need to gather ourselves and get on with it."
"You are a slave driver Cain." Viola jokingly complained while standing up, soon followed by Dwight and Jenna.
"Yeah man, let us whine for a bit." Dwight quipped, showing mock tiredness on his face.
"*sigh*... Well, we follow you, Leader~" Jenna joked while nervously putting a hand on Cain's shoulder, trying to be reassuring but looking more like she was trying to reassure herself.
[Tutorial starting in 3...
2...
1...
Tutorial start!]
As soon as the promp disappeared, the entire park changed once again. Just not in appearance. The overall 'aura' of the place had changed. It felt more... alive, as if it was a breathing, living thing. But it also felt a lot more dangerous. And just as they were about to start moving, a creature that looked the size of a child walked out from between the trees. It was, though, nothing like a child. It had an evil, mirthful smirk plastered on its face, which was small, sharp and angular, with a long, pointed nose. It's skin was green and it wielded a knife as big as it's arm. The only semblance of clothing it wore was a big loincloth, full of grime.
"Well guys... we have our first target to test our teamwork on." Cain stated, while eyeing the typical tutorial monster. "This is a Goblin, a weak monster that is quite feral, but equally as dumb."
"A-Are we supposed to... k-kill it?" Jenna asked, only now realizing that whatever they would have to do was going to be harder than she originally thought.
And that reality was now befalling everyone. Cain himself was doing his utmost best to not think about the fact that he would have to kill the goblin himself, since he had the only damaging skill in the group.
"Yeah... I am going to kill... it..." Cain said absentmindedly, still trying to look strong for the rest of them, only to receive a slap on the back from Dwight, who looked at him supportingly.
"Nah bro... this is a team effort." Dwight interjected. "There is no way I am going to allow you to carry that weight alone."
"Yeah... this is not going to be easy for any of us but..." Viola began adding her own supporting words to Dwight's. "It is us, or them. And I choose us."
"Y-Yeah! I mean... I don't like this but... I can't let you do this to yourself for our sake!" Jenna also spoke, in spite of being the most affected one by the fact that were actually going to kill something.
"I... thank you guys." Cain sighed and smiled helplessly, relaxing once he realized that he didn't have to be strong for them, but that they all had to be strong for each other. "Ok, we got our plan straight, right?"
"Yes sir! I use Battle Cry on the goblin, Viola will use Magic Rope before it reaches me and Jenna will use Demotivating Aura." Dwight repeated the plan, acting like a soldier talking to his superior. After laughing a bit he added the last bit. "That is when our wise leader will jump in and use Backstab to... *gulp*... kill it."
"Thanks Dwight, made it a lot easier now." Cain mock complained about Dwight's last words, only to have the party laugh a bit before everyone got serious. "I know this is our first time doing this... and it is not going to become easier but... I trust you guys with my back, so long as you trust me with yours."
"There is no need to even say that, bro." Dwight answered for the group. "We've watched your back since this began, just like you've watched ours."
"Ok... let's do it!" Cain decided as everyone got into positions.
Dwight took the lead, Viola and Jenna a few paces behind him, while Cain moved towards the side, flanking the monster while doing his best to hide between the trees. In just a couple seconds, they were now in front of the goblin, which was staring at them with curiosity.
"GET HERE YOU UGLY BASTARD!" Dwight yelled, activating Battle Cry at the same time. The gobling didn't take even a second to be infuriated by the yell, immediately running towards Dwight.
"Not so fast!" Viola interfered, casting her Magic Rope right on time and halting the gobling, which was now rooted in place by blue, ethereal looking ropes that came out of the earth beneath it.
"Umm... sorry but you have to go!" Jenna said while casting her skill, Demotivating Aura, while trying not to look at what was going to happen. Still, she forced herself to stare, since it would be unfair if she could not look at it while the others did their best to overcome it.
It was at that moment that Cain rushed from in-between the trees, trightly gripping a rock in his hand. Upong reaching the goblin, which hadn't even realized he was going to be hit, Cain silently casted Backstab and smashed the rock against the back of the goblin's head. The cracking sound which was heard when the rock impacted was proof enough that its head had clearly been broken. Before it could fall over, dead, blood began dripping from its eyes and nose, the damage having clearly been devastating for the creature.
As soon as it fell over, Cain did his best not to keel over and vomit. Viola had an ugly frown in her face and looked paler, Dwight looking a bit uncomfortable and Jenna was by a bush, throwing up.
"We... are doing what we have to do." Cain said, as if it was a mantra to keep himself stable.
[You have received 5 EXP.]
[You have received 2 GOLD.]
The prompts which used to bring Cain euphoria wheen he used to play games were now a reminder of what he had just done. What should be enjoyable was just torture for the mind. That is when Cain truly realized just what was actually going on. When the reality of it all fully settled in.
Had he been alone, he probably wouldn't have been able to even move in the first place, choosing not to pick an ability and just be over with it. It was because of those with him that he just... acted. He moved in order to do what he knew was best for everyone. He had the motivation not to give up on the first sign of hardship. And still, in spite of just having won their first battle, he couldn't help but feel defeated.
"This... this truly is the worst."
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Keep your ideas coming everyone! There are many skills to come for everyone, so keep recommending skills and please, do tell me for which character the skills you would like are, since I don't really know who to pair them with otherwise.
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