We left the city on a main road. The brick road slowly became a dirt trail the further we were from the city. The trail was wide enough for horse wagons to pass through on both sides, we were walking on the right. We were surrounded by a large green valley; and as I turn to look back, the city was getting farther away.

"So, currently we are in an 'Intermission Zone'. These exist between the main hub and the dungeons. The Intermission Zone could be pretty large for places like Mt. Zweistaht." Trevor explained.

"Does this place have monsters?" Nia asked.

"Yeah, but they're lower level monsters and their spawn rate is significantly lower than the main dungeons." Trevor said.

After a lot more walking we made it to the entrance to the forest. A sign was posted next to the trail. "Eindorf Woodlands, Dungeon Sector. Please stay on the designated trails in order to not get lost!"

"I thought this was a dungeon." I said. "Not a park."

"Yeah we don't have to follow those rules. The interesting things are off the trail. Like the hidden passages." Trevor said. "Though, the dungeon tower isn't. We could just keep going south and the tower is at the edge of the forest." He pointed down one of the trails; and I could see the large tower poking out of the treetops in the distance.

"Interesting." I said.

"Well, let's go look for some secret passages shall we?" Trevor said and lead the way.

As we continued walking through the forest, I was still amazed by how realistic my surroundings looked. The lighting once again was excellent. The sun rays breaking through the trees looked very good. And even the tree bark on the tree were very defined. In the distance I could hear players swinging their swords and attacking monsters. The forest was very lively, not only with all the activity around us, but with the animal NPCs as well. Squirrels were running around on the trees and I could hear what sounded like larger animals running around in the trees. Wait, larger animals?

All of a sudden a large animal jumped out of the bushes and bit Trevor on the leg. "Ahhhh!" He screamed and was trying to draw his sword.

I got a closer look at the animal. "A wolf!" I pulled out the Rapier from it's sheath.

"Don't worry I got it!" Trevor finally unsheathed his sword and hit the wolf on the head the hilt of his sword. The wolf let go and made a whimper noise. Then it fell over and died. It became blue and then broke up into a bunch of pixelated pieces and disappeared. "Phew, it's over." Trevor said with a sigh of relief.

"Um, I don't think so." Nia said a bit uneasy.

I looked around, I could see red eyes coming from behind the trees from all around us. I could also hear the sound of growling coming from all of the eyes.

I gulped down. "Yeah, I think we're far from finished."

"Come on, you've got to be kidding me!" Trevor cried out.

I screamed at him. "You idiot-"

The wolves jumped out all at once and began chomping down on all of us. Nia was fairing the worse because she was so small.

A two wolves jumped out in front of me and looked like they were going to pounce me. Then, one did. I side stepped and it landed next to me. The other wolf did the same, and I did the same maneuver. It repeated for a few more times until after a maneuver, I decided to strike as a counter. I thrusted my rapier's blade forward aiming at the wolf's head and it hit. The wolf made a whimper noise and died. I did the same thing for the other wolf, and then I was completely wolf free.

I looked over and Nia and Trevor, Trevor was being absolutely slaughtered by the wolves. There were at least four of them on top of him biting at him, Nia wasn't much better. She had three on her, I decided to act. I ran toward Nia and I pointed my Rapier forward, as if I were jousting. All of a sudden, the rapier's blade was covered in a blue colored light. Then all of a sudden I started going forward very fast to the point where I couldn't control it. I intercepted the wolves attacking Nia and they launched in different directions, they all died.

"Y-you saved me!" Nia said while covering her mouth.

"Y-yeah, I did." I reached my hand out.

She grabbed my hand and I helped her up. "We need to help Trevor, now!"

We looked over at Trevor who had gone limp. "Uh, did he die?" I asked.

"I think so." Nia said.

His body disappeared in the blue pixels like any other monster. Now they were looking at us.

"Here, let me try!" Nia pulled out a fancy looking stick with a red orb on the tip. "With this, I can cast magic spells!"

"What?! How do you have abilities?"

"Don't worry about it, let me cast a spell!" She held up the stick and pointed at the four wolves. "Fire!"

Immediately after she said the word, the wolves all simultaneously combusted right in front of us. They all burnt to a crisp and died.

"What? Nia you did something!" I looked over at Nia and she had fallen face down on the floor.

"I've exhausted all my stamina. I can't stand, help me." She said, muffled in the dirt.

"I think I'll pass on that, what do you expect me do to?" I asked.

"What?! What do I expect you to do?! I expect you to help me!" She started screaming at me in the dirt.

I crouched down to meet her eyes. "What, do you want me to carry you?"

"Yes, please." She said.

"Hmm, that's interesting. Wouldn't that seem a but weird for your stalker to do?" I ask in genuine intrigue.

"W-wha? What're you going on about? That doesn't matter right now, pick me up! I told you, I can't walk!" She continued to scream into the dirt.

I stood back up. "Well, I'd help you. But apparently I'm a stalker ready to pounce on you."

"Rgh, look I'm sorry okay?! I take back what I said! Now please pick me up!" She made a last attempt to sway me.

"Okay, fine." I said.

I knelt down and flipped her over. She was extremely light, very unhealthily so for a sixteen year old.

"Man your petite size carries into your weight too huh?" I said as I prepared to carry her.

"W- shut up! Just get it over with! I'm sure me being light will help us get this over with." She said.

"Mhmm, okay." I said.

I put my right arm under upper back and my left arm under the joint in her legs. I picked her up, lighter than I thought possible for a human. I looked down at her but she was closing her eyes. From the looks of it she was closing her eyes so hard, that there were wrinkles all over her face. I started walking back in the direction of the city.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I don't want to look at you." She said. "Why would I want to look at you on the trip back to the city?"

"I'll drop you." I said.

"Okay! I'm sorry!" She opened her eyes but looked away.

"That's what I thought. You're gonna be rude even though I'm helping you. Totally not a surprise." I said.

"What are you getting at?"

"You know how I lent you that money at the coffee shop right? Straight up denied it and called me a thief because we owned the same wallet."

"Hmph! I still used it." She turned her head in the opposite direction.

"Because you had no choice."

"What, did you actually want me to use your money?"

"Yeah, sure, why not? I'm too rich for my own good anyway."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I have too much money. That's what I mean."

"I've never heard anyone ever complain about money before. Is there something wrong with you?"

"No, there's something wrong with you."

"How dare you? Saying there's something wrong with me."

"How dare I? Oh sorry, I have an affinity to be brutally honest with everyone. I don't care how you feel right now, because people like you are the problem with this whole 'mindset'."

"Wha? People like me? Mindset? What are you babbling on about?"

"People like you think it's so great to be rich. You can buy whatever you want whenever you want. But that's exactly the problem."

"Huh?"

"As long as I could remember, my parents were always buying things for me. They always got what I wanted and even going an extra mile on that. If I wanted an iPad or something. They would get the iPad, oh but they wouldn't stop there. They'd buy all the extra stuff, add-ons and accessories and everything else. I enjoyed it for a long while. Until, I decided to wake up one day. I wasn't getting the fulfillment that the gifts were meant to give. I wasn't having fun with my life anymore. I decided I would do something with my life after that. I tried many things. Fencing, karate, jujitsu, kendo, etc. I grew very skilled in all of those arts, but too skilled. I was too good. It wasn't fun anymore when I could eliminate an opponent with a few of my 'signature' moves."

"Wow Allan, I had no idea." She decided to look at me. "Um, I'm sorry. For real this time."

"Tch, there was no point to telling you that. I'd assumed you fell asleep. You were dead silent while I was explaining my whole life to you."

"I was just listening." She said. "I wouldn't know anything about that if you didn't tell me. We'd probably still be bickering by now if you hadn't. I know better now, to uh, treat you a little better. I feel a little bad now."

"What? Who said you have to treat me better."

"Huh?"

"See what you did there? Don't go and spoil me like my parents. I don't need you to act different toward me. I don't need you to be nice to me. To tell you the truth, being called a stalker, degenerate, and thief is quite a surreal experience. Normally I'm being praised for my skills and my high social status. Being talked down to is quite different."

"I- I really do think there's something wrong with you now for sure."

"Oh yeah? And what it is that?"

"Y-you're so weird. You hate being rich, and you enjoy being talked down to? What kind of person are you? Are you a masochist or something?"

"Okay, now you're going too far. I will not tolerate masochist."

"Oh."

"But, I am a different person than most, probably, I wouldn't know. I don't talk to people very often, so I don't know their values and views on the world."

"That's probably the one thing I see as okay."

"What?"

"You're an introvert, like me."

"Huh? Introvert?"

"Yeah, I don't talk to people either. I joined the game club because they were the only ones to take me in. All the other clubs chased me out because I didn't look their age. You're not the first person to think I'm extremely young."

"Well, I mean, I don't think I'm exactly an introvert. I don't talk to people because I'm scared or something, I just don't want to talk to people. If people do talk to me, I can act accordingly in any social situation. Talking to people isn't hard or scary, I just get tired out by talking to other people.

"What? That's not even the point I just made!"

"Oh, uh sorry I guess."

"Oh whatever. Ah! My stamina!" She jumped out of my arms. "I can walk now!"

"Great, not like you were heavy or anything though."

"Ah whatever." She dusted herself off.

"Hey! You!" A voice called out to us.

We turned our heads toward a guy standing a bit far from us. He walked toward us.

"No not the girl, I mean you!" He said.

I looked around, nobody else was around. "Me?"

"Yeah you, were fighting, right here, right now!"

"I don't have time for this." Me and Nia started walking away.

"How dare you!" I could hear fast steps behind me, as if he were running toward me.

I swiftly turned around and blocked his sword from hitting me with my Rapier. Sparks flew as his sword and mine met.

"So, you accept?"