June spreads her hands out and looks absolutely confused. “You didn’t even tell me plan A? And of course we aren’t fighting the boar! They’re one of the local hard stops against people just leaving. The designers didn’t want to put up invisible walls, so they have patrols on the roads, restrictions on the gate options, and stuff like these boars filling in the wilderness. We haven’t even leveled once and you want to fight the thing?!”

  Gem, “Oh? Didn’t know you were level one as well!”

  June nods, “Yes, so if you were depending on me being high enough level to make a difference, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

  Gem shrugs, “I wasn’t, but I can see why you would think that. Now, how often can you cast that buff of yours?”

  June sighs, “They don’t make it easy on buffers in this game. Right now, using the buff reserves half my control and I can only have one buff at a time. As in, even if I had other buffs, I can only have a single active buff.”

  Gem, “Well, that’s one way of doing things. How about you toss it on me and I see what it feels like?”

  “Eh, why not? It isn’t like I’m using it.” And June pulls a glowing ball of light out of her body and tosses it at Gem.

  That ball of light smacks into Gem and absorbs into their body. And right from the get go, Gem can notice the difference. Sure, it isn’t the biggest buff, but Gem feels like they could do a backflip or some such.

  Gem looks June in the eyes. Something that is supremely uncomfortable for them, but they felt the situation called for it. “Be ready to run.”

  June panics, “What are you planning? Where would I run to?”

  Gem cracks a devil may care smile and jumps out of their tree with a flip thrown in. Because why not? “Follow me if you like!” They hit the ground in a crouch.

  The boar’s head whips around, eyes lock onto them and it charges. Gem’s eyes close as they listen closely. June up in the tree wants to shout out a warning, but freezes.

  Gem can hear the thudding of the monster’s hooves get closer. Then Gem springs to the side, grabbing a young tree to swing themselves behind a much larger tree. The boar had committed to its charge and so could not slow down. It slams through one leg thick tree and into a waist thick tree.

  Gem waves up at June, “Boars stunned! Let’s get some distance before it recovers.”

  June hops down and stumbles a little as they hit the ground, “This won’t stop it from chasing us! Also, how did you do that jump?”

  Gem laughs as June follows behind, though they have to watch their speed as June’s body stat seems to be lower. “You’re the one who just buffed my agility. What were you expecting? For me to not use it?”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  June huffs, “As if the damn spell lets you become a professional acrobat! It only increases your agility. You don’t get the experience to use that agility. The spell is meant to make you smoother at what you’re already able to do.”

  Behind them, the boar squeals in fury.

  Gem glances over their shoulder, “Huh, recovered quicker than I thought it would?”

  June, “Did you think only we get stats? That thing. Has Stamina for days!”

  Gem, “Don’t you mean body?”

  June, “Stun recovery. Is under Stamina. Stun resistance. That’s Body.”

  Gem, “Why are you already getting out of breath? I’ve only got C tier stamina and I’m doing fine.”

  June glares at the back of Gem’s head. “C, as well. Slow down, running too fast!”

  Gem realizes what happened and cuts their speed, allowing June to set the pace best for their Body stat. Though with that, the boar is catching up much faster now. “Well, that puts a crimp in my plan.”

  June dodges a bush, “You had a plan?”

  Gem looks over their shoulder again, “Wellll, I had an idea, but the boar is going to catch up before it would have worked. There aren’t any other monsters to use as meat shields.”

  June, “What does that even mean? You’d just end up with a monster train!”

  They both duck under a branch as Gem responds that, “It should work. The SAI made the monsters pretty realistic compared to older games. Getting the boar to slam into another monster should aggro them. Or kill them. Either or.” And they shrug.

  June sighs, “So this is how my first death happens.”

  Gem, “Oh yeah, high chance of that now! Haven’t you noticed where we’ve been heading?”

  June whips her head around, taking in the surroundings which had turned into an old growth forest. “How are we here?! Why haven’t we been stopped by some other monster?”

  Gem, “Eh, we’re only a bit deeper and I think the boar behind us is scaring off the weaker monsters.”

  June, “We really are going to die! Why would you run this way?”

  Gem, “Well, my plan wasn’t going to work before, but now? We simply need to find another monster.”

  June’s face goes blank for a moment, then responds in a calm voice. “Fair enough. The city’s map of the forest would indicate we need to head further to the left. This is boar territory and they are likely keeping out of the way out of respect.”

  Gem glances over to the side as they begin angling left, “Attitude change much?”

  June shakes her head, “If you want to try this plan, the least a friend can do is allow you to fail spectacularly to make up for the fact it won’t work.”

  Gem smiles almost to their ears, “Oh, don’t worry! Heheheheeh, I think it will work! SoulDive isn’t just any other game. A look at how the SAI’s foray into SciFi worked out shows this.”

  June nods, “I’ll support you, but you’re making it up to me when we die.”

  Gem, “Hey, I understand, we just met so how could you trust me? How about this, if it does look like we’ll kick the bucket, I’ll ‘meat shields’ it up and try to let you escape.”

  June, “We’ll have to see how things turn out.”

  Gem, “In our favor, of course! Be a little optimistic, not like death is the end. This is still a game, after all! So turn that frown upside down, we’ve got a boar to bamboozle.”

  June sighs, “Well, I guess the only way out is through.”

  Gem nods and points forward, “Onward, to victory!”

  Heyo! If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider reviewing the story! It would really help it gain traction. Also, as an incentive, if we hit 500 follows I’ll release a bonus chapter!

  Oh, and if you want to ? There is at least a chapter’s worth over on right now! You can also head over to my to hang out and ask questions. While I do try to respond to comments, I don’t always catch everything.