Resource run

The following morning, John was torn between wanting to dash out straight away to start farming up resources and spending time with his mom. She’d been so busy that week (as had he, to be fair) that they’d not had much chance to just sit and talk. Now, with a table piled with breakfast between them, he was debating rethinking his plans for the day. It wouldn’t hurt too much to just spend a little downtime here, talking about random stuff rather than getting to the park first thing to finish farming up the foliage he needed.

“So, who’s the girl you were out walking with yesterday?” Brenda’s words cut across his train of thought like a truck on the line. Half-**** on a mouthful of scrambled eggs and bacon, John stared at her as she calmly piled toast onto her plate before continuing, “Oh, don’t look at me like that John. You were late home from the academy, you came home wearing a snappy jacket, and you arrived with the dopiest smile on your face just like the time you went on a play-date with, oh, what was her name? Marcie? In third grade, remember? You walked around for two days looking like you’d won the lottery, and then she moved out of state and it was like someone had told you Christmas was canceled. So, who’s the girl?”

John swallowed hard, then opted for the truth, and nothing but the truth - if not necessarily the entire truth. “She’s someone I met at Ashcroft. I asked her if she’d like to meet up after classes, she said yes, and we went for a walk in the park. It was… nice. We’re going hiking tomorrow, she’s going to show me some trails and stuff. She likes to cook, and forages for wild herbs and stuff as a hobby and… and you’re smiling at me, Mom.”

Brenda had rested her chin on steepled hands and was grinning. “It’s just nice to see you so excited about someone, John. I’d been worried you were developing some kind of depression or anxiety with how few people you seemed to talk to away from your computer. I know it’s not been easy since your father… But I’m so happy you’ve met someone. So, I know you’ve only had one date so far, but I’m your mother and thus I have to ask, when do I get to meet the young lady?”

Trying very hard not to think about the fact that the ‘young lady’ in question was only a year or two younger than his mother, John coughed. “It’s only been one date, just like you said, Mom. I might… I dunno, frighten her away with how much of a nerd I am or something. Let me at least be sure it’s going to last longer than a week before you make plans for us to have her over for dinner.”

With Brenda appeased, at least for the moment, John finished his breakfast and made his excuses; the less he had to talk about Matilda with his mother right now, the better as far as he was concerned. He was just glad he’d not been asked if they’d kissed on the date or anything, although he did note with interest that he’d apparently gained another food buff from the breakfast. Wondering idly to himself if it was just because his mom had cooked it, or if it was some perk of her MILF title and if that meant anyone with that tag could give him buff food, John walked briskly to the bus stop.

Despite the delayed start, it was still morning when he reached the park. Thankfully, that meant an absence of inquisitive families and joggers as he found a quiet corner to enter into the Barrier. Ducking behind disused toilets, he activated the transfer Skill and felt the by-now familiar feeling of otherness as he shifted into that strange alternate world.

Getting his bearings, he set off in the direction of where he’d fought the herbihogs earlier in the week. They’d not been particularly powerful, and had dropped loot some of the time, so seemed like a good bet to start his grinding session. Besides, he had spent all that time practicing on Thursday and was feeling a lot more confident about his skills with his staff. Warming up on the hogs was surely a good idea before going after the junk trolls for the enchanted metal he needed, there was no way he’d get lucky enough to be able to scavenge someone else’s leftovers a second time. And this time around he could scan the trees properly rather than getting distracted by damsels in distress.

The background noise in the park Barrier seemed a lot quieter than it had the previous time John had visited. On the plus side, that was vaguely reassuring - quiet meant a probable absence of any dryadrones looking to take a chunk out of him. On the minus side, with no frame of reference he was nursing a vague anxiety that the quiet might be due to something new scaring the wildlife, rather than the inhabitants quieting down for a time after the battle he’d fought on Tuesday.

A squeal from the underbrush ahead of him and a pair of herbihogs springing for his ankles was, therefore, almost calming in a weird sort of way. John battered one away with his staff while dodging backwards; these were only Level one enemies and as such not really as much of a threat as he’d felt they were previously, now that he was approaching them calmly and with a plan in mind. A short jab caused the creatures to back off, hissing, and a Guiding Bolt a second later caused the one he’d already struck to explode into sparkles.

Getting enough hits in on the final hog to wear it down proved difficult; not for the first time, John debated the merits of putting a point or two into Strength in the future to make his blows more effective when he did land them. His mana was refilling rapidly courtesy of the buff from his breakfast, but he didn’t want to be using his main spell on weak opponents all the time. Plus, trying to hit a small moving target with his staff was good practice for training his weapon handling, something his Stats and Skills didn’t appear to be helping with any time soon.

Eventually backing the critter up against a tree more by luck than design, John gave it one final overhead strike before leaning on his walking stick panting as the monster burst apart. “Alright… experience gains from these things are minimal. And… no drops either. Fuck,” He muttered to himself, pulling a water bottle from his Inventory and taking a massive gulp. “So, gonna have to fight against bigger hogs if I want a better chance at the stuff I need. Probably more xp gains too.”

With no obvious better choice of route presenting itself, he opted to move in the direction the herbihogs had come from. Their Observe had said they were pack animals, right? That should mean better odds of encountering more of them if he followed the trail the first two had left him. Branches cracked underfoot as he picked his way through the trees, the scent of damp earth and warm oak filling the air; a casual Observe indicating that the plants here were all just regular trees, much to his annoyance.

Rounding a particularly large tree, John froze. Up ahead of him, a group of five or six of the low-level hogs were merrily feasting on shrubs around the edge of a clearing. But, more concerningly, in the middle of the clearing stood a much larger beast. Where the herbihogs he’d fought so far were the size of a small dog, this one stood much larger, easily the size of a small pony. Its leafy back was also much darker, the fronds a deep green fading to brown compared to the pale and vibrant patterning of the smaller animals nearby. Stepping back slowly and keeping an eye on the group, John risked an Observe and swallowed hard at what he saw.

So, that was one territorial monster that was twice his level, along with a much larger pack of lower-level adds that would be awkward to deal with on his own regardless of the bigger hog’s presence. Time to nope out of there; John turned and began to pick through the trees back the way he’d come as quietly and quickly as possible. He’d actually made it almost out of eye-shot of the beast when he misplaced his footing and heard a twig snap beneath him. Scrunching his eyes in frustration, John risked a glance back - right as the entire pack turned their snouts in his direction. For a moment, neither John nor the beasts moved… then the elder hog reared up on his haunches before letting out a screech and barreling forward. John didn’t hesitate - with dirt skidding up from beneath his feet, he spun around and ran.

Branches whipped at John’s arms and face as he darted through the trees. His only thought was getting back onto the path and hoping that he could put enough distance between himself and his pursuers that he’d be able to leave the barrier - coming back another way, or another day, and preferably coming back with actual hunting equipment. Sure, he was a Cleric, but there weren’t any laws against Clerics also carrying firearms or anything that he’d ever heard of. Well, okay, there were rules against them carrying weapons in general, but since he hadn’t been smote for using his staff, he was pretty sure that it would be alright to upgrade to a hunting rifle or something.

Ducking under a particularly low-hanging branch as he reached the path, the squeals of the hogs sounding as if they were right behind him, John didn’t look at where he was going. Skidding sideways as he started to run along the gravel, his eyes returned to looking ahead just in time to see a familiar female form in an Ashcroft uniform staring wide-eyed at him before he cannoned into her, sending both of them spiraling into a bush on the far side of the path.