女神归来的夏天

Chapter 101: The Will of Humanity

I\'ve been flying for a few hours now, and I haven\'t came across any cities yet. I\'ve been flying at slower speed and enjoying the cruise, so I wouldn\'t cover that much ground. In terms of anyone else I\'ve already made tons of progress in traveling, but I have to hold myself to a higher standard since I have so many good things going for me. If every player could fly many wouldn\'t be scared about the coming monsters, its been a while since I\'ve actually fought anything. The last time I was in combat was on the way to Zenith, and that feels like a life time ago. In reality its only been a week, time is skewed when your having fun. It can go fast or slow, and its gone by slow to me. Most players are smart, and many will form parties to go out and attack monsters.

I still have a few exp boosts saved up to, but using those for the higher levels will be wise. Leveling gets harder and harder the higher you get, and having those exp boosts will help greatly. After I find my family and get us back to our original continent I\'ll be going for my mana aura. At this point I don\'t know how long that can take, my best bet is getting an answer as a dungeon reward. I don\'t know if that\'s all a lie from the system, it could be a trap so players die and lose levels faster. Its around 3:30 in the afternoon and the monsters arrival gets closer and closer as the hours pass. One problem is I don\'t know how strong these monsters will be, if so many things have changed its safe to assume that monsters have as well.

I\'d be foolish to think that monsters and combat will be the same as before, the only thing that I know about combat now is how skills work. Since I can activate my wings with a thought its safe to say that skills work like that to, but just in case things have changed I\'ll only take on one enemy at a time. Another thing that draws my attention is the state of the NPC\'s or rather my lack of knowledge about them, are they still the same as always. Do they even exist anymore, they probably do. Why aren\'t they searching the new continent for answers, the war is far from reaching these lands. NPC\'s are as real as we are, and they must be affected by what\'s going on to. They have bigger things to worry about, many see players as worthless to them. So its unlikely a search will happen.

I hope that the truth about what happened to us will be known, if Jericho and Xander are found then many questions will be answered. I know for a fact that they are in the same situation as the rest of us, I bet many will demand blood from the founders. They are immortal just like us, and while killing them repeatedly might help. They wont stay truly dead, and in a way that\'s good. They may be able to fix this mess, their actions created it after all. I look down towards the never ending forest, my worries are not as great as others. Mostly because I\'m strong and have everything I need to survive, players will adept and change. Its in our nature after all.

I can feel hunger encroaching on my thoughts, I haven\'t ate something in quiet some time. I lean my body forward and head towards the forest floor, just before I hit it I level out and do my best landing so far. Only some deep footprints this time. I toggle my wings off and they disappear into my back, its very convenient that I can hide them. I don\'t have a bow and arrow, but I\'m fast enough to run down some game. While animalistic and uncivilized, its my only option right now. I draw my sword and get to hunting. As Cera hunts for food, players all over this new continent are in panic. One of these players being Quinn, or otherwise known as Snow Princess.

I don\'t know what I\'m going to do, after the last few days I thought it couldn\'t get worse. Now I have to fight monsters and defend myself from painful death and resurrection. The first day I thought this was just a dream from playing to much Ancients World, but now I\'m scared like I was when I was a little girl. "I heard that the commander is rallying the strongest of us to set up a defensive parameter. I\'d join myself if I wasn\'t so damn weak, I wish I put more time in before all this shit happened. I might have been able to do something." I hear some of the guys in the meeting hall speaking, we are taking shelter while the commander tries to prepare for the coming storm.

So many have already adjusted and are ready. While I just sit here and brood, I need to get my head in the right place. I stand up and make my way out of the meeting hall and towards the old convention center, that is where commander Clarkson is rallying her troops. I heard she hates her first name and prefers Clarkson. I enter the old convention center and see all the players and parties being formed, Clarkson really knows what she is doing since she is one of the top officers for the guild called Rubik\'s Ruination. She is a person just below the rank of vice guild leader, and the only real leader around. If anyone knows what to do in a situation like this, its her.

I look around the convention center and find the sign up booth, there are players working it that assign you to a team or post. I walk over to it and look into the tired and depressed eyes of the man working the booth. "I want to help." That\'s all I can say since there isn\'t much more I can. Determination and thickheaded speeches about why I want to help wont make this go faster. He focuses his eyes on me and looks me up and down, he isn\'t giving a perverted or disgusting stare. More like inspection of my gear, players still hate being inspected fully. So he is doing his best without using the actual inspect skill.

He rubs his temple and takes a deep sigh. This guy is one of the most tired people I have ever seen. "Well you look higher level than most, so Clarkson will more than likely want to assign you somewhere personally. Go speak to her upstairs in the command room." I make my way up to the command room and cant help feeling out of place. There are a lot of hardcore players around here, and most outclass me by many levels. I\'ll admit that I\'m intimidated by all these great players, but many are to focused on there own stuff to notice me. In a way it makes me happy, getting unwanted attention is always something I hated.

I see the commander and make my way to her, I stay quiet until she is done talking to whoever she is talking to. After she is done she turns and meets me, I\'m much shorter than she is. "I was told to come speak to you about an assignment." No reason to waste time. She looks at me and nods her head slightly, guess I pass the gear test. To most players that\'s all that really matters, but the players that are great. They know that personal skill is just as important. She is about to say something to me, but someone comes up behind her and whispers something into her ear.

She just shakes her head in disappointment. Obviously not at me, but at the news she just got. "LILY!! MAKE SURE NEW BLOOD GETS SETTLED IN!! I GOT ANOTHER CRISIS TO FIX!!" She yells across the room to whoever lily is, she takes off at the pace an officer would. Soon I\'m met with a hand on my shoulder, and a very beautiful dark haired green eyed beauty. She has a light complexation with subtle dusting of freckles. She is almost as pretty as Hailey, I hope the sister of the meanest boy is doing alright. As well as the meanest boy, my thoughts are broken as she leads me out of the command center and into a private room. There are 3 other people in this room, these must be my new party mates. While Snow Princess and her new party learn about each other, Cera is digging into food and having some water.

While I like meat, I\'m a terrible cook without an oven. I bet mom could make something delicious from wild deer over a campfire, all I can do is cook the meat good. Well its going to be like this for awhile, and in the end its not so bad. A problem I am noticing is smell, turns out our bodies now produce odor if we go to long without a shower or bath. While I\'ve never had seriously bad body odor, many player I meet will smell bad. Be them male for female, cleaning myself in the river close by doesn\'t seem like a bad idea. I\'m not a fan of ice cold water though, and that water is freezing. So its going to be a chilly bath time, a mans got to make sure he is clean. Nothing is more embarrassing then being told you stink. So when I\'m done eating I\'m taking a bath, still plenty of light out after all.