New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

As Astaroth logged back in, he noticed it was dark outside his alcove. He hadn't counted in the time dilation and a little over twelve hours had gone by in-game.

It was still dark, and his clock showed it was close to midnight.

He went to patrol outside the village while the people were still sleeping. It would pass the time, at least.

When he passed the entrance to the village, two people were outside, standing guard. One of them was the healer that had healed Konnor during their first duel. The second was an archer he wasn't familiar with.

He nodded their head to them and kept walking further away, hoping to see an enemy or monster he could test out his new strength on.

Genie was tailing behind Astaroth at a slow pace, looking around her, searching for something to sink her teeth in.

As he hadn't fed her in a few days, she had hunted rodents and such small creatures to sustain herself.

Astaroth was about to pull a slab of wolf meat from his inventory to feed her when she lunged at a nearby bush.

He heard a slight squeal from the brush and then Genie came out of it holding a squirrel-looking creature.

She gobbled it up quickly, not even leaving enough time for Astaroth to scan the creature. He could guess it was a trash mob like most games had.

What made him curious about it was the possibility that their levels were low enough that he could have used those to level up early.

But it was already too late to think about this matter. He was now strong enough that he did not need to kill such small critters.

After eating her snack, Genie looked towards the north, her ears perking up.

"What is it, girl?" Astaroth asked, seeing her reaction.

Genie growled in the direction she was looking before darting away. All Astaroth could feel through their connection was anger.

He launched himself at Genie's pursuit, making sure he never lost sight of her.

Astaroth could hear fighting noises in the distance. The further he ran, the more those became clear.

They eventually both ran to the edge of a clearing and saw what was causing all the ruckus.

The unit that was on patrol was fighting a flock of giant red bats. The bats were almost a meter wide, and they were blood red.

Astaroth scanned one, to figure out if he should help or not.

Blood Bat

Level: 12

Grade: Common

Health: 350 Mana: 140

He surmised the monsters were of the swarming type. He scanned many more, but all of them ranged between Lvl 10 to Lvl 15.

Where the issue lay, and why he intervened, was in their numbers. They numbered in the hundred.

He couldn't possibly count them, but he could roughly guess by the size of the bats and the size of the swarm.

He remembered to upgrade White Death's stats and dumped the eighteen available points into agility. Then he used Spirit Meld.

His hair turned white, and fur grew on his arms and cheeks. Claws also grew out of his fingertips. Astaroth again felt the rush of being powerful.

He quickly glanced at his status window before lunging into combat.

Status:

Name: Astaroth (Fused to White Death)

Race: Ash Elf

Level: 30 (37'285/55'950)

Stats:

HP: 11'850/11'850 MP: 2'890/2'890 Stamina: 100

Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat

Strength: 48 (+55) Agility: 48 (+53) Constitution: 39 (+63)

Intelligence: 48 (+27) Wisdom: 31 (+27)

Attack Power Str: 515 Attack Power Agi: 505 Magic Attack Power: 375 Healing Power: 290

Natural Defense: 10.2% Armor Defense: 14%

Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)

Available stat points: 0

Available skill points: 0

Physical Condition: Normal

Mental Condition: Normal

Seeing his insane stats, he instantly knew he didn't need to pull out weapons to deal with these creatures.

So he decided against it, and went into full feral mode, tearing apart the bats with his claws. He tried biting one to death at some point, but the taste was so horrible, he didn't try it again.

The rush of tearing the enemies apart with his own hands exhilarated him, but he remembered to keep his emotions in check, always keeping his head screwed on straight.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Genie was also faring well. Even though she couldn't one-shot all her foes, she still dealt quite enough damage to them on each hit.

The battle went on for almost an hour, with the bats not always being in range for melee combat.

During all that time, he received many notifications about resisting confusion.

The bats had an attack called Sonic Cry that could inflict confusion, but apparently, his mental resistance was currently higher than their chances of confusing him.

The same wasn't true about his impromptu allies and Genie, as they sometimes started throwing attacks at their allies.

That forced the people being attacked to focus on defense and allowed the bats to dish out more damage. Astaroth even had to hold Genie a few times, lest she attack the others nearby.

She might not kill them, but she would render the situation more perilous, and that was less than ideal.

During the times Astaroth wasn't spirit melded, they also confused him a few times, due to receiving so many Sonic Cries at the same time.

It was a given that some would work, even with his high mental resistance. When you receive fifty attacks, one after the other, one of them is bound to succeed.

The feeling he got from the confusion was peculiar. While he was confused, when he looked around, all he could see were bats.

He couldn't tell where his allies had been seconds prior, and that resulted in some attacks from him hurting his comrades.

It happened less and less throughout the fight since the number of enemies was falling at a steady pace.

Once the last bat had died, Astaroth sat down, exhaustion catching up with him. They had been fighting non-stop for almost an hour, and they couldn't lower their guard even once.

Out of all the combatants present, only Genie looked like she was fine. That was normal, with her animalistic stamina, he thought.

The patrol unit thanked Astaroth for helping, before asking him what he was doing outside the village at this time of the night.

Astaroth brushed them off, saying he had woken up and needed fresh air. He added that when he heard the commotion; he went to check it out and found them fighting.

He couldn't in good conscience leave them to fight so many enemies on their own, so he joined in.

While they were talking, Genie strolled around, eating the hearts of the bats straight out of their chests.

That creeped out the fellow elves around Astaroth, and he could only chuckle wryly.

She enjoyed her meal for a while, before being full and coming to lie down near Astaroth.

He simply smiled and pet her back, while looking up at the starry sky.

It was a beautiful night, and the weather was cozy. After emptying his energy reserves this way, he felt like he could just fall asleep right there.

It was tempting to do so, too. But he couldn't know when other monsters would walk by him and decide to use him as a late-night snack.

After a bit of rest, he asked the patrol if they wanted his help for the rest of the night, but they politely declined.

What would they look like if they couldn't perform their duties without outside help, after all?

Astaroth didn't insist and walked back towards the village. He wandered around a little before deciding to go to a recluse corner and train.

He fought with his eyes closed, imagining enemies around him. He would fight with one weapon, then switch to another, and then another, cycling between his full arsenal.

The enemies, he imagined, all wielded different weapons, thus the weapon changing, to adapt to their shortcomings.

This lasted until the break of dawn, when someone walked up to Astaroth, watching him train with a critical eye.

Astaroth was the first to break the silence, not stopping his shadow training.

"Have you come to watch me, or spar with me?" He asked his observer.

"Simply to watch, boy. You have progressed in the art of adapting, I see." Kloud, who was standing there, told him.

"I'm still not at the point where I would feel comfortable doing it in actual combat." Astaroth responded.

"In due time. Nothing comes from rushing things, young man." Kloud said, nodding his head.

The smile on his face betrayed the pride he held, looking at his protege growing.

"I was told today was the day I venture to the capital for my coming-of-age." Astaroth said, opening one eye to see Kloud's reaction.

"Aye. Aberon has apprised me of such news." Kloud replied, nodding his head slightly again.

Astaroth saw the smile drop a little on his teacher's face when he said that.

"Is something bothering you, teacher?" He asked.

"Nothing for you to concern yourself about, young one." Kloud said, smiling again.

Astaroth knew he was hiding something, but he didn't pry further. He just hoped Kloud would eventually trust him enough to tell him his story. Who knows, maybe that would unlock a quest.

"You should go wash up and prepare for the trip ahead, lad. It is a long journey to the capital." Kloud said, walking away.

"Aye aye, teacher." Astaroth said, stopping his training and giving him a salute.

He then went to wash up and prepare.