Open World Online (O.w.O)

• 1^st Person POV (MC)

-Present Time-

“THIS IS OUR TURF! FUCKING PISS OFF!!” -Random Man-

Two male figures. They wore mismatched clothes complete with a weapon that looked like dual swords. The other one is close up & personal with someone while the other is at the side seemingly making sure that someone couldn’t escape.

(“What is going on here?”)

I maneuver a little bit to get a closer look at who are they talking to and these two figures. Besides the mismatched clothing, they have intimidating sharp black eyes with frowned faces. Their hair matched with one another, short & spiky with blonde tips. Both wearing gaudy golden necklaces that are too big to wear.

(“Someone goes haywire in character selection and... accessories.”)

One interesting thing though...

(“Why are they grinning even though giving out that angered tone of voice?”)

Meanwhile, The opposite side of them is an equally tall male, lanky in build compared to the rest and cornered to a large tree.

He has long black shaggy hair that covers his eyes due to the bangs coupled with an unkempt stubble on his sharp jawline. To me, he looks like he’s been living in the wilds for years.

Alongside, his tattered brown tunic & black breeches were the standard looks of players, except he had gone through something dangerous to end up with damaged attire. The scars and bruises' visual effects on his tanned skin most likely come from fighting monsters as I experienced the same thing when taking damage.

That’s the game telling on how much damage I take including the HP percentage display players can see.

“OY!! RETARD!?” -Random Man-

The gaudy-looking man pushes his index finger on the chest of this lanky man pushing him slightly back. He’s adding enough force to do so.

(“That’s a bit rude... He’s injured so why?”)

I am not sure what to do at this moment.

“Tch...*if I’m not injured, I’ll probably kill you first.* You’re the one getting in.” -Lanky Man-

“THE FUCK! Did you hear this!?” -Random Man-

“Someone needs to teach this bastard.” -Other Random Man-

(“What is he saying causing those two to be agitated.”)

I don’t know what they are talking about but I gasped in surprise as I could see the two gaudy-looking men begin to grip their dual swords. While the lanky man clenches his fist preparing to fight. A PK is going to happen and this lanky man is outnumbered!

(“Should I help?”)

I asked myself but quickly shook the thought away. Two men had already begun trying to slash that lanky man.

Arising from the bushes, I cast a {Spell} while shouting in the hope of gaining attention.

“[Blind]!!”

“Wha--!! Bitch! I can’t see.” -Random Man-

Both flailing around without aim as their eyes are covered by black shadows.

(“They don’t have resistance to magical ailments?”)

Thankfully, the [Blind] spell has a small Area of Effect (AoE) making me able to hit all of them in one go. Since they are close to one another while making sure to not hit that lanky man.

Not a moment was spared for me to think more as I dashed towards the lanky man & grabbed his wrist.

Surprisingly, his wrist is rough & sturdy as I try to pull him away from those flailing men.

“Come on! Let’s go!!!”

I quickly declare where I feel he begins to budge & follow my lead.

(“If I remember, there’s a somewhat quiet place in this direction.”)

-A Moment Later-

“Haaaa... Haaaa... We escaped.”

I slumped down, my legs were tired from running while the lanky man behind me still stood. He isn’t tired at all...

(“What class is he? Berserker?”)

While sitting, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Are you okay?”

He didn’t answer... making an awkward silence last for a while longer.

“Yes... I am all right.” -Lanky Man-

He paused before finally answering. That’s good.

“It seems you’re injured, I have some Vitality Herbs if you want to eat them.”

I called the system & led to the inventory section pulling out a bundle of Vitality Herbs as I have tons of them from gathering.

“Ah... I’m all right, thanks...” -Lanky Man-

His voice has gone quiet but I can hear it. Then I can see his body slowly recover as some of the lacerations & bruises fade away.

“Phew... good.”

I put away the bundle of Vitality Herbs before standing up & patting the dirt away from my robe.

“I’ll get going then.”

“...Wait...” -Lanky Man-

Hearing that made me pause my steps. Turning around, I watch the lanky man as he straightens his back. His voice is much deeper and huskier than what I expected.

“Can we... Uhm... Party Up?” -Lanky Man-

My eyes go wide for a bit, I didn’t expect this kind of development. I thought of just helping and going away like an errant priest dishing out buffs & heals.

“Eh? Uh... Sure?”

I mean... with a party, it will be easier for me to finish my requests especially killing the boss part and getting the goblin ears & forest wolves' fangs. So, I agreed...

He began to swipe something in the air when I heard a notification in my system panel.

-System-

‘Siegfried Calenus’ sent you an invitation to join a party.

Yes / No

-System-

Tapping the ‘Yes’ button, the panel vanishes before popping up again revealing a list of two names.

‘Magie Magia’ and ‘Siegfried Calenus’ looking at it, I feel silly giving my name like that compared to this player’s name.

Now that I think about it, the names of players aren’t revealed. So this might be how they revealed player names. Maybe from adding as friends, party members, guild members etc.

(“Hmmm... A-anyway!”)

I think he has a randomised name... I also see levels and classes. Mine is LV5 Mage, while Siegfried is LV5 Berserker. It certainly fits the theme...with his look and all.

“Okay, uh... Do you have any requests from the Adventurer’s Guild?”

I wanted to check if I needed to do some repeat hunts on forest wolves or goblins.

He nods a bit, gaining more confidence in his stance.

“I have some things to do like Goblin Ears and Forest Wolves Fangs to collect plus the boss.” -Siegfried-

“Ah! Same!!!”

With a smile, I feel glad to have the same requests since it made things easy.

“Since it’s night-time we can try hunting down some forest wolves to get their fangs.” -Siegfried-

Nodding to his suggestion, I cast a [Light] to my staff making it bright as a lamp.

“Shall we?”

I like using that opening with Siegfried nodding to my words.

--

“The drop rate is atrocious... phew...”

“Yeah...Haaa... haaa... ” -Siegfried-

I whined while sitting down recovering my MP with Siegfried doing the same but for his SP. The toll of SP & MP out is weighing down on us but thankfully the act of ‘Sitting’ alleviates the issue and slowly I’m feeling better.

Ha.... thinking about the forest wolves made me a bit annoyed. Out of all 30 kills we got, each of us only got one. So probably another thirty kills again before we finished the forest wolves. I mean... It’s kind of understandable since the rank of the Fang item is (Rare). But still annoying to do...

The party item distributing system is based on chance. So it’s either you get lucky or not, but the items we’re looking for can be traded so it’s all good. Plus the EXP is shared equally as we’re level 6 now.

Also, those glimmering spheres are the ‘client’ side. Proven when Siegfried took one, I can still see my very own glimmering sphere. That’s how they prevented stealing other player’s items.

In the meantime, I remembered our teamwork. So far, so good I mainly cover from range creating openings for Siegfried to land his hits.

His battle style is... how should I say, like boxing with quick jabs of fist and sometimes he incorporated some kicks too.

(“Very interesting... is it regarded as a basic attack or skill?”)

Though it would be rude of me to ask all of a sudden. Let’s ask about his boxing instead.

“Siegfried, do you have experience in boxing?”

(“Eh?”)

I can see his body stiffen a bit from my question. Did I ask something personal?

“U-uh... yeah, somewhat...” -Siegfried-

Oh good, he replies and he’s smiling a bit. Can’t see his eyes though but that’s already a good sign.

“I see... when did you learn boxing?”

He looked away for a moment.

“Maybe... when I was 12?” -Siegfried-

He stares at the skies probably reminiscing something.

“And still doing boxing now?”

“Occasionally as a hobby” -Siegfried-

“Huh... Interesting, how old are you now? I’m 26 this year...”

Maybe by giving him my age, he would feel more comfortable sharing his own.

“I’m 27 this year. Why do you ask?” -Siegfried-

“Hmm... That means you’ve been doing boxing for 15 years! Wow... that’s... wow... No wonder you’re so good at it!”

That’s amazing! No wonder he’s so fluid in his movements and doing those jabs & kicks to defeat the wolves. Must have been practising a lot, getting injured in the process, and tons of effort into getting that far.

“haha... it’s nothing.” -Siegfried-

He looked away for a bit. As I decided to not push further.

“My MP is... I think I’m all right.”

I began to stand up, my body feeling refreshed already.

“Me too, this game is good at replicating ‘Reality’.” -Siegfried-

“Agreed... do you play other games?”

“Yup, I played a lot of RPG games. But never once I encountered this kind of game before with Hi-Tech Virtual Reality and all.” -Siegfried-

I also nod.

“Same... To be honest, it made me think about how it will be nice living in this world instead of... you know...”

Siegfried heard my rant as he nodded as well with a chuckle on his own.

We then set sail to deal with more forest wolves until we both finished obtaining their fangs.

“FINALLY!!! Ughhh... Thank you so much for your help, Siegfried. It would take me ages to do so.”

I exasperatedly sigh in relief after being done with the fangs. While dreading the goblin ears...

“We still have the goblin ears.” -Siegfried-

“Haaaaaa.... please don’t remind me of that. It’s almost daylight too.”

Looking above, I see a semblance of dawn with the glimmering stars slowly growing dimmer as the sun begins to come.

I already turned off the [Light] spell as we can see our surroundings.

-After a moment of sitting-

“Back to the grind.”

I dragged the staff like a cane while hunching mimicking an old man. Gaining a bit of a chuckle from Siegfried.

“Haha...” -Siegfried-

We began hunting some goblins.

“There are different types of goblins in these deeper parts. I’m pretty sure you already know about the Lancers?” -Siegfried-

I nod, The goblin Lancers move fast and have a simple straightforward jabbing strike. Paired with goblins ambush type of attack is quite dangerous when unprepared.

“At the moment, I knew the goblin variant; Archers, Shielders, and Shamans.” -Siegfried-

“Oho? What do they do? What special ability do they have?”

That piqued my curiosity a lot as I scooted over to Siegfried so I could listen intently.

Siegfried made a smile showing off the pearly whites as he continued to explain in fervour. I always like it when people talk about something they find a genuine interest in.

“You see... the AI controlling them is amazing, The archers will position themselves in long-range & use the most difficult area to get up close and personal then begin barraging you with arrows. While the Shielders will try to occupy your field of view carrying their wooden shields making sure to block your way to the archers. Meanwhile, the shamans will begin long chants to give supportive effects to the Shielders and keep healing them.” -Siegfried-

My eyes widened in fascination, Siegfried must have dealt with them before.

“How did you break through their formation then? I’m sure you have encountered them if you know this many details.”

“With brute force! If you’re able to knock down the Shielders, it becomes easy to defeat all of them. Helped with potions of course.” -Siegfried-

He shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“Hahaha.... if it works, it ain’t stupid.” -Siegfried-

Siegfried made a smug smile, his method worked but let’s see the scenario in my situation as a mage.

I will try to disable the movements of the Shielders and immediately target the archer with a long-range spell. Same sort-

“KIEEEEEE!!!” -Goblins-

That was a familiar shriek of a group of goblins as I & Siegfried began our fighting stance.

“Ready?” -Siegfried-

“Yep!”

I declared as Siegfried dashed forward ambushing a group of goblins. From here, I can see five goblins each carrying differing weapons.

Goblin with bow & arrow The Archers, Goblin with a buckler & mace The Shielders, Goblin with gnarly looking staff The Shamans, Goblin with dual daggers & masked, and Goblin with mean looking club.

“Careful.” -Siegfried-

He warned me as I nodded, especially the goblin with dual daggers. I pay special attention to it knowing it’s most likely based on rogue class.

With a grunt, Siegfried closed the gap to the Shielder Goblin and decided to launch several multi-jabs. Including gaining the attention of the goblin holding that large club. All the attention is grabbed by Siegfried.

Good! He made a distraction now... my eyes went to the archer who was beginning to nock its bow.

“[Frost Diver]!!”

Slamming my staff on the ground, the crackling icicles emerged and immediately went straight to the archer freezing it in place.

“Kieee?? KIE! KIE!” -Goblin Shaman-

It notices my presence and shouts before pointing its staff toward the archer and beginning some strange chant. I can see the archer's frozen state begin to be thawed.

(“No good!”)

“[Lightning Bolt]!!”

The tip of my staff crackles with electricity before jolting towards the Goblin Shaman. Sizzled from the lightning it fell before vanishing.

Unfortunately, its spell already worked and the archer is released from the [Frozen] de-buff. It immediately changes its target towards me.

“KIE!!” -Goblin Rogue-

The dual-wielding goblin all of a sudden appeared right beside me.

(“That movement is far too quick!”)

The archer already let loose its arrow straight at me as I saw the goblin rogue thrust two daggers at me as well.

“[Star Shield]!!!!”

*BAMMM*

I didn’t feel any blunt impact or aching rather I heard something hitting a wall.

I noticed the arrow and goblin daggers did not even come close to me rather they stopped a few centimetres away.

My body... my body is coated by a sheen of prismatic colours like wearing a skin-tight outfit. Then, a surge of drowsiness began to creep towards my head and eyes.

I tried my hardest to shake the feeling off, as it felt like closing my eyes would’ve caused me to fall asleep instantly. With that in mind, I immediately say the ability’s name again and the prismatic sheen vanishes.

Followed by making a sweeping attack with my staff targeting the legs of the goblin rogue.

“KIE!!!” -Goblin Rogue-

It fell prone to the ground as I took out a Mana Herb from the inventory & began chewing on it like gum.

The sensation of tiredness vanishes quickly but not fully.

“[Frost Diver]!!”

“KIEEEEE-“ -Goblin Rogue-

It froze from the sheer cold & ice.

*WHOOSH*

An arrow swift as the winds unleashed directly straight towards me once more.

(“NO! I forgot about the archer.”)

Before I can cast it though, Siegfried is already right in front of me. As he gets hit by the arrow using his body as a cover. Is his build all of a sudden gaining more muscles or my eyes are fooling me?

“You okay?” -Siegfried-

His voice cut through my train of thought.

“Yeah, thanks!”

I step to the side and point my index finger to the archer. Time to stop that annoyance...

“[Blind]!!”

“Kieee!? KIEEEEEE!!!” -Goblin Archer-

Dark shadowy tendrils covered its eyes as it shot arrows in random directions.

“Fwuuuuuu... HA!” -Siegfried-

He held his breath before making a heavy axe kick hitting the frozen goblin rogue, looking like a karate type of martial art. Did he learn many martial arts during those 15 years besides Boxing? Maybe…

“Ah! What about the Shielder and Destroyer?”

My head whipped to the side checking the whereabouts of the others. What I see are just glimmering balls.

“Already taken care of them.” -Siegfried-

With that in mind, I hurled an ice spike at the archer It fell to the ground & vanished leaving behind all of those glimmering orbs.

We picked all the glimmering spheres and got lucky as both I & Siegfried got goblin ears enough for the request.

“Well.... this is RNG.” -Siegfried-

His mouth pursed in annoyance, probably with the same thought as mine. We killed 60 forest wolves just to get 2 fangs. While this one is easier.

“Haha, at least we finished it quickly.”

Siegfried nods.

“Haaaa... let me take some rest.”

I gave him a thumbs-up before sitting down. Not from tiredness due to MP but rather from mental fatigue compared to the ones I get from work. This fatigue is much better as I feel satisfied too. Siegfried drenched with sweat also sat down.

“Now we only need to find the boss and discover a ‘Field’ for me.”

Siegfried is in deep thought for a bit before asking.

“Magie, what happened back there? I was busy dealing with Shielder & Destroyer.”, -Siegfried-

“The Shaman cured The Archer status effect, and I didn’t pay attention as The Rogue already comes close to me. Sigh... maybe in the future I’ll learn summoning {Spell}. Thanks for the cover on that last one though...”

“Huh... interesting, I heard the shaman begin shouting some sort of command. Quite an advanced AI. *Ahem* No worries, it’s what frontline like me do.” -Siegfried-

While we are waiting until my MP & his SP is back to full. I rechecked my inventory, and so far I have a lot of herbs and their seeds. Extra iron ores & flawed Jewels. Then the junk of Goblin cloth scrap and forest wolves' fur.

Tapping the status panel, I allocate the status points to both INT and WIS. Once I feel satisfied with it I press confirm.

“I have enough rest, what about you?”

Once I stood up, Siegfried followed suit as he warmed himself up by shadowboxing to calm himself down.

“I’m ready now. Let’s go deeper.” -Siegfried-

We began our journey into the depths of Deep Woods. Until I see something in the distance that catches my eye.

“Oh! Wait...”