Kai rolled his eyes and continued his journey, now with three members instead of the earlier two. Mimi had traveled for two days and had emptied most of her supplies by dying a few times. She confessed that, after a while, she had just opted to run as fast as she could from monsters instead of facing them.
She said it with such pride, as if it were the greatest achievement of her life. Coward. Well, honestly, that was the most normal approach for new Nexus Kin players, who all had the Escape mission. Only a few, like him and Deimos, were the exceptions who could kill high level monsters with skills alone. They rode for a while, rested for a while, talked for hours, and enjoyed the nice scenery, all the while killing every monster that crossed their path effortlessly. And it had barely been just a day. They still had to travel for two more to reach his mother's starting village.
Kai wanted to arrive early this time to see if he could participate in the last Exodian NPC fight. Another drop of pure Exodian blood sounded nice. He wanted to check whether it worked only for the one Exodian bloodline skill they were given or if other skills derived from Exodian origin could be upgraded with it too. The only problem was..
"Say aah, Kai.." said Mimi as she brought a piece of bread near his mouth. They were resting once again under the only tree in the vast green grass field.
And she was being annoying. "Stop it, will you?" he said, squinting at her.
"Why? You never go out on a date with me! This is the first time. Even if it's in a scary place, I will try my best to enjoy it!"
"It's not a date, Mimi.." Kai sighed and accepted the bread, biting hard into it.
He was indeed low on health after fighting monsters all day—not because they damaged him but simply because he hadn't healed at all, killing monster after monster as his health barely dipped below the threshold. Mimi was not a great fighter, but she still pulled her weight.
It was nighttime, and Kai had started a fire, gathering some wood. Actually, it was Mimi who had started the fire, not him. She had received a unique skill from a former Nexus Kin mercenary who had traveled the world before returning to his home village—Mimi's starting village—to spend his last years in retirement. The man had lost an arm in his mercenary days.
Mimi had once helped him in his garden, getting nothing more than a pretty flower as a reward. Impressed by the act, Instead, he had given her a task to test her skill. She did well enough—it was just hunting a few monsters. As a reward, the Nexus Kin man, who had more Stonebinder blood than Exodian, taught her a skill called Burning Will.
The effect was simple yet quite rewarding if mastered. It coated her fists, kicks, and weapons in fire, adding a burning edge to her strikes. Every attack left lingering fire damage on her enemies. The skill only required a fixed MP cost for activation and could be used as long as the user wanted, making it highly efficient. Kai had seen this kind of skill circulating on the forums, and it was considered quite high-level. After all, it was a two-star skill.
Though, more often than not, Mimi ended up burning her own clothes and items instead of her enemies. The fire didn't hurt her fists or legs, but it did set fire to anything else it touched. Unlike his Infernal Scion, her skill was more practical. Infernal Scion was a one-time power boost type of skill, whereas hers could be used continuously.
They rested for a while and then continued traveling under the moonlight. Though they encountered more monsters, it was also much more rewarding for Kai. Both the distance shortened, and his experience bar filled up fast. At last, after traveling for another whole day, Kai and Mimi, seated atop DarkSmile, reached the location his mother had given coordinates for. However..
There was no village—just an empty, vast greenland surrounded by a thick forest. Kai called his mother to confirm the coordinates, and they were correct. She even sent a screenshot, but even at the exact coordinates, neither of them could see the other. It seemed that, before the event, the open world wasn't available to beginner players. Well, that made sense.
His mother had just begun her Slenshalan Event, so it would take at least another day before she finished. Instead of waiting, Kai and Mimi killed monsters for a few hours. Then, along with DarkSmile, they Godstepped atop a nice tree branch and logged out.
Kai wanted to sleep, but Mimi dragged him along for a tour around the Landing Planet they were on. She also had followed his advice and chosen Kilmarnock G-7 as her landing planet. They wandered around the fancy mall, looking at all the things they couldn't buy. Well.. Kai could buy them if he wanted, but wasting money like that would be idiotic.
Having fancy avatar skins, gadgets, and tools that could only be used on the landing planet wasn't worth his hard-earned money. Since she was so excited to finally explore the planet, Kai took her to one of his favorite places with a mind-blowing view. On the way, they also visited the official General Nyxfall Game Portal.
A lot of players had gathered there, chatting and shopping at makeshift stalls that other players had built nearby. Many claimed to know secret information about the game and the best ways to obtain skills, though most were scams. Most players knew this, so few wasted their money on them. Sometimes, however, the information was genuine, and one could find good intel—for a price. But it was still too early for that. Even big gaming studios investing heavily in Nyxfall wouldn't know much information about the game just yet. It was still the beginning period, and people couldn't travel far.