Startup

The rest of the morning went normally for the most part, the same patrons were downstairs shoveling down their morning portions, the same inquisative stares only amplified by the sight of the strange mans new companion. Elise was now wearing a set of bandit gear that Sven had scavenged from the night before, boiled leather clothing wasn't the best for protection but it was better than going bare chested, not that Sven would have minded. Sven also donned the other bandits attire, the rough-spun tunic and pants hardly had any defensive properties, so the bandits gear was a much appreciated gear upgrade.

As the two seated in that same corner table, the patrons of the bar were steadily being served food by the profusely blushing inn keepers daughter, one by one she would fill the table with a few chunks of meat and assorted vegetables. A poor mans breakfast, but filling. Soon enough it was time to serve Sven and Elise's table, however instead of being served by the blushing brunette, the inn keeper was the one to set down the two plates in place of his daughter, giving Sven a hard look that seemed to ask an unspoken question: "What did you do to her?". Sven had been persecuted enough this morning and returned an unapologetic look.

"Sorry for the trouble I've caused you." Elise shifted uncomfortably, staring down at her plate of food. Sven sighed, but smiled never the less.

"That's alright, just eat your food. We've got a long day ahead of us." Elise wasted no time, much to Sven's surprise. She wolfed it down like it was her last meal, as he watched her fork down spoonful after spoonful of meat chunks and carrots he wondered if the sight before him really was becoming of a barons daughter? Elise seemed to notice, but smiled a carroty smile back at him. Sven just laughed at that and carried on with his meal.

Sven had decided that Elise was probably too low level to be venturing out into the woods, for some odd reason he couldn't see her level, class or name above her head like you could in the game, so guessing from her upbringing in a lords castle, she was probably sheltered and hadn't seen any real combat. Seeing her flail the iron sword around and miss slime after slime was all the confirmation Sven needed; definitely a noob.

"Don't attack where they are, attack where they're going to be." Sven tutored as the slime connected a jumping blow to her cleavage, sending her tits bouncing like waves even through her boiled leather tunic. Elise grunted in frustration and swung again, missing it by a few inches. Slimes were a predictable enemy to face, they would bounce in place or towards you in a fight, you just have to time your attack speed with their bounce speed. Sven blushed as another blow sent her rack rippling once again.

"Here, stand back and I'll show you." Sven walked forward and took Elise's place, with a swipe of his sword he arched it in an overhead swing, the slime wouldn't dodge an attack, it would just mindlessly bounce towards you, so if you swung your weapon in the right way there was no chance even the biggest noob could miss. Something lit up in Elise's eyes.

"Ahh! If I swing like that, I can't miss!" Sven nodded, a pack of 3 slimes were slowly approaching the two, Elise shared a look with Sven but didn't need to be told what to do next. She charged the slimes and mimicked Sven's attack, attacking the second with a reversed under-sweep, but before she could kill the third, Sven stopped her.

"Wait, it's good to know how to efficiently kill an enemy, but other enemies won't be so simple. It's good training to predict an enemies movements patterns, try a sideways slash this time. And remember, attack where they're going to be, not where they are." Elise grimaced at that, but if Sven said it was good training then well...

She waited patiently for the Slime to approach her, timing the intervals between bounces and how long the creature stayed in the air for, her own attack speed was becoming familiar to her as well, finally she saw the moment to strike and readied her blade, swinging it in a fierce arc and deftly slicing the goo ball in half. Her eyes lit up as she looked back to Sven, doing a little happy dance and jumps for victory.

Sven couldn't take his eyes off of her bountiful bouncing boobs, she seemed to notice his reddened cheeks and the target of his gaze and sobered up quickly, turning her back to him with a small blush on her face.

"Lets continue on, we should try to make the most out of the daylight hours." Sven quickly distracted the two from the awkward situation they'd found themselves in.

As they walked, Sven tutored Elise on the importance of herbs and other alchemical ingredients, it was best to focus daylight hours on gathering supplies due to the visibility the sun gives, but also because of the lessened danger day time monsters give players searching for crafting materials. Sven felt he was rambling at a point so didn't mention all the caveats and exceptions to this rule of thumb, but was happy to see she seemed to taking this all in.

So for the remaining daylight hours, Sven and Elise roamed the Botany Fields in search of common herbs to sell for money, occasionally coming across packs of beginner monsters that Sven instructed Elise to fight against alone. Axiom isn't just a game of stats like most MMO's, it is a game that rewards game knowledge, tactics and monster or zone specific strategies in order to optimize a players efficiency. Even if the experience they earn together is shared, the first hand experience of fighting alone vs multiple opponents is an experience that once honed can make all the difference in the world, and is an experience that cannot be gained simply by killing monsters in a group.

'If she's ever separated from me then... This kind of training will be good for her.' Sven thought to himself as he watched her dodge a slimes attack while timing her attack perfectly against another. She was a quick learner, that much was apparent. Sven looked off into the woods, his heart almost stopped beating for a moment.

"Is that?..."