Midsummer Feast

The update had finally arrived, meaning Merie had taken the freedom to take make some preparation. Mainly, since it was a Friday, so had she pardoned herself and warned her parents that she would spend more time than usual in the game. None of them’s been supportive of her decision, but after a word from her mom so had her father accepted it.

“I’m in. What have I missed this far?” Merie had just logged in when she wrote in the party chat, desperate to find out what was new. The developers had left an update-statement, “We would love to share what we’ve done, but just like the changes in seasons, so will we let you find that out yourself. We can proudly state that we’re willing to change if there’s a major wish for it, but we’ve to try different routes to find the right one.” Their idea could be fun, but at the same time, so did she find it just as annoying, as she hadn’t been able to read about it during school and think about how to use the new updates to hunt other players.

“You haven’t missed anything interesting yet, Cutie, but there’s many bursting with curiosity, so some might get a little nuts for a while forward.” Opiom was the first one to answer. And if she was right that some were bursting with curiosity, so might there really be a chance players would go slightly nuts. Which maybe was the developers’ intention. “There hasn’t been any crying about it getting more difficult to get away with PKing, but we’ll give it a couple of days before we go out at our first hunt.” Anlie was probably right, even though it could’ve been fun to see if the developers had done anything in connection with players killing each other. Still, it was better to sacrifice others’ asses before they risked their own.

“Girls, I just checked the bunny ears, which would look lovely at our Cutie, and it doesn’t indicate that it gives any boost in stats or abilities. So… Shall we force our cutie to wear them for a while and see if something comes with the time?” Opiom couldn’t be serious with that idea. “I get a feeling that I’ve missed something, but that sounds fun.” Adu was suddenly joining the talk, it was probably the first time she spoke up after Anlie invited her, whenever that had been, and she joined the crazy idea of Opiom. “And I don’t know just who you’re, but I guess it’s Anlie inviting you. So I hope you’ll enjoy your time here, and you haven’t missed anything yet.” Could Opiom have cared less about a new member of the party? “Sounds good, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the time here, before I maybe leave to create a tribe.” Adu didn’t seem to have given up on that idea yet, but, of course, if that was what she wanted, so shouldn’t Merie stop her. Even though she hadn’t got a clearer view of what Adu meant with a tribe. “Sounds like the two of you’ll get along. So I look forward till we’re setting up a hunt again, and with WE so do I mean Lart.” Anlie wasn’t wrong in that she rarely set up a hunt, but she shouldn’t wait for Lart to do it every time. “I don’t know if it’s necessary for waiting someone to set up a hunt. We should just do as the savage beasts and go out for a headhunt at random.” “It won’t lead to anything good if we would happen to find a bunch of too strong bastards. We’ll get our heads cracked and risk getting exposed.” Merie had to shut down Adu’s idea as fast as she could. Knowing fully well that they would get a horrible headache if someone found out who they were. “I agree with the cutie. Even though it sounds like a tactic assholes would use.” Once again, so wasn’t Opiom wrong, but she could’ve avoided straight out calling them assholes.

Without any new information so did Merie close the party chat, and took a look around in the village. She couldn’t see anything that straight of had changed, and maybe it hadn’t. At least not in that village. Still, she took a stroll around the town and spoke with those she could find, getting a feeling the townfolk showed more emotions. But since that was all, so did she head into a nearby forest, carefully watching the monsters she found, and in some cases slaughtered, but didn’t notice anything amiss with them either.

Rapidly growing satisfied with the results in that area, she prepared to leave for the next. Bursting with curiosity about what had changed, like other players, and hoped to find at least one thing to tell the rest of the party. Thinking about the party, she could try what Opiom had suggested, and equip the bunny ears. But it was too difficult to believe she would gain something by using them. Not to mention that she felt embarrassed only thinking about using them, sure that she also would look straight of awful. If anything, so could Opiom maybe ask Adu to use them, and if it turned out she got something from it, so would Merie also give it a shot.

Merie followed the same pattern of searching through towns and the surrounding forests, hitting the jackpot first in the fourth town. Finding a question, which she didn’t hesitate to accept and set out to finish. The quest didn’t sound difficult, only delivering a message to someone in another village, but the NPC claimed the teleporters had broke. And at the very least so did it turn out she couldn’t use those in the town, unsure if she would be able to use any others, she set off sprinting in the direction of the other village.

Ducking slashing an attacking Goblin, sure she gravelly injured it. But she couldn’t deny that she was slightly annoyed by the attack, only one of dozens. She was sure the quest was summoning more Goblins than usual, as she knew this area had been calmer when she trained there a while back. But now so was it swirling with Goblins, and blood as she rapidly was killing them. Dodging a spear, aiming her claws toward its throat, and slicing it wide open. She could only hope the reward would be worth it, but as always, so would she finish what she’d started. And it wasn’t as if her time was on the short side this time.

Passing a group of them, she aimed for their legs, hindering some of them from following her, and continued sprinting. Even though she did have the time on her side, this time, so didn’t she want to waste it by slaying low-levelled monsters. She wanted to finish the quest and get the reward, so she could decide if it was someone else in the group that also would benefit from doing it. And if it turned out that neither she nor any of the others were benefitting from it, so could she still be satisfied by the fact she was done with it. She barely had the fortune to take ten steps before another group of those goblins attacked. The new group looked as if they were wearing leather armour, which only meant even more headache for her. Dodging their incoming attack, trying to aim for where the armour didn’t protect.  But thanks to all her hits didn’t hit home, so was Merie soon surrounded by those ugly creatures. She would honestly not allow herself to get defeated by those things, changing to the claws, bend blades, she used for hunting. Not only were they more robust, but thanks to the fact she could scoop out their bodies, so did they do even more damage. And it might be just what she needed for the moment.

The light particles violently swarmed the battleground as Merie didn’t only carve OUT their arms, legs and throats. But she was also more or less doing the same with their faces, some misfortune bastards even getting thrown after the curved blade got caught in their skull. Honestly creating a horrid scene which might’ve fitted Adu better than Merie. And it wasn’t as if the view got any better when Goblin-riders, Goblin mounting wolves, arrived to help their fellow goblins. Merie honestly slaughtered those Goblins even faster, as they were even weaker than the usual Goblin, and didn’t hesitate to slaughter the wolves who decided to continue fighting her.

She couldn’t say how much time she’d spent killing those fuckers, but she felt merry as she noticed the goblins, of all kinds, were thinning out. Sure she soon could continue. She wouldn’t lie about not being annoyed by the monsters attacking her, but at the same time so couldn’t she deny that it’d been some good training. Especially considering there were far more enemies to concentrate on than she was used to. She was spurted in the face with particles as she once again ripped open a throat, making the dumb mistake of facing at the same time.

She’d been lucky none of the goblins were attacking as she got spurted. It would have been almost impossible to block an incoming attack as she couldn’t see shit, but she could now see those goblins flee as fast as their small feet could bear them. Dropping a heavy sigh before turning in the right direction, taking off as fast as her feet could bear her. Hoping that it wouldn’t be any more problems along the way, but she suspected that it might be a little much to ask for.

There weren’t any more problems through put the forest, and the town looked peaceful, even the cattle were roaming free on the roads, and if it really turned out to be as calm as it seemed, so wouldn’t she need to do anything more than to find the NCP. Who should be in the village, as long it didn’t turn out he’d left, for whatever reason? Rapidly walking up to an elderly woman and asking about the person, getting an answer she hadn’t suspected. “We don’t even know if he’s alive anymore as we got raided by bandits a while back, and they took him and a bunch of other men with them.” The woman seemed genuinely concerned about the men, even sharing some tears. Merie should’ve betted an arm or two at that the developers just had to try shoving something more up her ass during this quest. “I’ll see what I can do about that, Mam.” If she hadn’t been determined earlier to finish this quest, so would she’ve been it now. And if she would get a massage before handling those bandits, so might she still consider slaughtering those asses. Of course, as a small payment for the pain she’d gone through, even though they’d nothing to do with it. “I’m getting a feeling you’re a Wanderer, dear. And I’m honoured for your decision to help us.” The woman’s words didn’t weigh much to Merie, as it simply was an AI speaking. And even though they might act very human-like, sometimes too human-like, so were they still only an AI. “I’m glad to help you, Mam.” Still, Merie could behave as if someone would’ve been involved.

Dropping another sigh and leaving the village, heading toward the nearby mountain where the woman said the bandits were. But as soon as she’d left the village, so did she open her menu and check the quest, noticing that it hadn’t been updated, meaning that she really had to fuck those fuckers up.