Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Beginner's area (II)

As she descended toward the central square, she read aloud and solemnly the name that appeared in the stats.

"Luna Dorada..."

That was the name she had chosen for her character in the game, several years ago.

"A somewhat ostentatious name," Eldi had criticized at the time.

"Better Goldmi, it's a shorter version of Golden Moon," Gjaki had proposed, translating and shortening the name, since Ludo wasn't to her liking.

"Goldmi..." she said aloud, smiling at her memories. She liked how it sounded.

Lost in her thoughts, she reached the big square, stepping on the tiles that still retained the white sheen, once the dust that covered them was brushed away. Her gaze went to one of the training dummies, so she raised her bow, placing an arrow and tightening the string.

She had never practiced with a bow in real life, and, in the game, she only needed to press a key to shoot. And even so, it felt natural to her, as if she had always known how. She didn't hesitate about how to place her hands or how to aim. She wasn't even concerned about the distance. With complete confidence, the arrow shot out at a speed faster than it should have, to hit the center of the bull's-eye target.

She looked at another dummy on the other side of the square, much farther away, and fired again, hitting the center of the target too. Her eyes then focused on an even farther dummy, at a distance she knew would be impossible to hit.

Without hesitation, she replaced the arrow and activated the Hawkeye skill. At that moment, she was able to see the target more clearly, as if she were using binoculars, in addition to having complete security of hitting it. She released the arrow, as it crossed with incredible precision the distance that separated it from its destination, hitting the center of the target again.

She wasn't surprised, but she was enthusiastic. Despite having the confidence to achieve it, the feeling of using the bow was incredible. And while she wasn't surprised, she was also excited to see the experience bar being filled.

"Let's test the other weapons..."

She took out a level 1 sword and dagger from the inventory, and approached a dummy to test them. The first thing she did was cut with the sword and stab with the dagger, without feeling strange by using both weapons. Then, she decided to use the two skills she possessed related to those weapons.

The first, Serpent's Attack, uses the sword to attack while dodging and blocking with the dagger. The second one took a while to test it, because she didn't have much energy at level 1, so she needed to recover it.

Meanwhile, she tried the Hover spell. It is very slow to use in combat, but it helps prepare for it. It allowed her to levitate at a speed of one meter every five seconds, and her current mana capacity barely allowed her to reach one and a half meters in height.

Then, she wore on an outfit Gjaki had given her a long time ago. Outfits have no bonuses, but allow the player to change the look of the clothes she wears. This one was a very tight and open shirt, and a very short skirt, which made her feel extremely embarrassed. It's true that in the game she had not cared too much about it, but now it seemed excessive. So, she switched to another one with a loose shirt and vest, and a not-so-tight pants that allowed her to move easily.

Finally, she was able to test Blazing Dagger, which consists of blocking with the sword and quickly attacking with the dagger, with the aim of surprising the enemy. Combining the two skills, it makes it difficult for the opponent to predict which of the two weapons is the one to attack.

She had all of those skills and spells in 10, as they weren't only the first she had learned, but they were still useful at higher levels.

It wasn't long before she raised her level to 2 by attacking the dummy, rejoicing as much that her parameters had increased as that she had another skill and spell at her disposal, or that she could actually level up. They had gone from grayish color to lightly lit.

The spell was Basic Healing, identical to Eldi's, while the skill was Tangle. Entrusting oneself to the link with nature, plants' roots can be called to hinder or prevent the movement of enemies, and their effectiveness depends on the plants around. Both were also at 10.

Then, she looked towards the dome that covered the place. If you don't pay attention, it seems that it really isn't a closed place, and that the sun rises in the blue sky. Her gaze swept over it until she found a darker area that hinted the exit.

Then, she felt fear for the first time. She didn't know what was beyond it. Goldmi feared that it would be like in the game, but that she wouldn't have the courage to face the hostile beings that awaited her beyond. Or that it would be even worse.

She had found that she could continue leveling up with the dummies, but that it was very slow. She recalled that Gjaki had said in the past that it was very boring and inefficient, and that it was better to left after level 2 in order to level up.

But in that unknown situation, she decided to take advantage of the security of the place where she was, and continue using her sword and dagger to attack the dummy, until it was completely destroyed, so she went to the next one.

She wondered if it was okay to break those dummies, but thought that the cave collapse meant that no one else was going to return. So, she kept using both weapons and various dummies until she rose to level 3, after which her level no longer progressed.

She had unlocked the Light Feet spell, which uses the power of the wind to speed up her own speed, and which was at 10. She had used it very often, even to race against Eldi or Gjaki. The memory made her smile softly.

And also in 10, there was Piercing Arrow, which allows to break through the defenses, or sink deeper into the enemy. Its biggest flaw is that arrows are more likely to break.

Thinking of the arrows, she looked at the ones in the distance, thinking of going to collect them, but a fairy got ahead. She looked at the fairy curiously, who was similar to the previous one, but not identical.

"How many of them are there?"