"And I doubt you foxy creatures are any better?" David said while summoning his axe to behead both of the creatures.
"Don't kill me... use m…," the spider-woman suddenly transformed into a black-haired beauty, while the fox turned into a white-haired one.
"I too don't want to die... I didn't kill anyone...", the fox cried.
'Seriously trusting a fox's tears and words? Does the developers take me for an idiot?'
"I'm beautiful... you're a man, aren't you..."
The fox cupped her ample chest—easily a fourth size—trying to seduce David, while the black-haired one was a bit more modest and didn't have much to show off.
She bit her lip and spread her legs enticingly.
"I…I can warm your bed!"
'…' PFFFT—
David nose trickled with blood, 'Seriously, the developer have poured their soul to create this game!'
However, David know he will be tricked by these monsters, "HahhA! Your are trying to trick a monster hunter? The Audacity of you monsters!"
Just as David rose his hand to behead the defeated spider woman muttered in ragged breath's, "T-t-t-tamer!"
She transformed into a mass of energy and shot into David's right hand, becoming a tattoo of a spider on his wrist and voice shout out form the tattoo, "I submit to my master!"
"Oh, you little... damn it!!!"
"I submit to my master!!!" right after seeing the spider's submission, the fox too shouted.
"N-n-n-no! Damn it!!!"
[Congratulations Player! You have successfully tamed an Archanus!]
[Congratulations Player! You have successfully tamed an Tailed Fox!]
"Hey, both of you! Fir right out of my hand this instant!" David yelled staring at the 2 tattoos in his hand, even if he is going to tame monster's he isn't at all interested in some wild beats.
"I had plans to raise my very own partner! Shit, damn you monsters!"
Getting up, dejected, David trudged back to the academy. The desire to hunt was completely gone. Plus, taming those monsters had drained almost all his stamina... 'I hate this feeling of weakness.'
In short, the angry and annoyed David had to drag himself all the way around the outer ring of the academy and finally reached Mike's place, an rumbled down three storey building.
'Ah-Fuck…'
'Damn you,'
'Shut you mouth a second!'
David picking up the voices instantly knew Mike's location, after completing several quests for this NPC he was already familiar around the area.
Opening the door, David walked into the workshop where extra lessons were held. Judging by the swearing and black smoke, someone had messed up an enchantment.
"Yo, Mike, the screw-ups messing up again?", David laughed, walking into the room.
"That's putting it mildly!", cursed the sturdy old man. Well, short, but that didn't make him any less of a good guy.
"Oh! Looks like you completed my order?"
"Almost..."
Saying to Mike, David retrieved the hides and other materials he got from his little hunting trip however it was enough to satisfy the grumpy NPC.
"Look here, you blockheads!" Mike turned around facing 3 student NPC and a player in same dress as them.
"He has been hunting these things for past 7 days! What you lot going to do in your life huh?"
David wasn't least bit interested in staying here any longer, listening to Mike's angry voice gave him a headache.
"All right Mike, I am off!"
As Mike came out of the shop, he planned to log out but he took a moment at his hand and sighed, he had two monsters now out of nowhere?
Then, his eyes were filled with darkness.
[Logging out…]
Logging-out...
David yanked off the headset, blinking at the cracked ceiling above his bed like he'd just been reborn—or hit by a truck.
His back hurt. His stomach was empty. And his face was sticky with headset sweat.
"Peak adventurer," he muttered. "God of the grind. Slayer of spiders. King of… back pain."
He sat up and groaned. His legs were stiff. The kind of stiff that said you've been crouched in a digital bush for six hours hunting fictional mosquitoes.
Then he checked his phone.
Aetheris Exchange:
💸 + $48.70 transferred to your linked bank account.
David smiled. It was the kind of tired, beat-down smile of a man who just looted a monster's gallbladder and sold it for sandwich money.
"Breakfast is on me," he muttered.
Janet stood in the kitchen, already dressed in her nursing-school scrubs, coffee in one hand, microwave breakfast burrito in the other.
"You were up all night again?" she asked, not looking at him.
David opened the fridge. It looked like a wasteland post-apocalypse. One sad egg. An expired yogurt. And betrayal.
"I made $48," he said instead of answering.
Janet blinked. "In-game?"
"No, I sold a kidney on Craigslist. Yes, in-game."
She raised an eyebrow. "That's… kind of impressive?"
"Damn right it is." He pulled out the egg and eyed it like it might fight back. "Also, can I borrow $20?"
Janet threw a piece of toast at him.
****
Talking the last bus of his time slot David barely managed to reach his university premises.
The university lecture hall looked like a sleep-deprivation convention. Students were slumped in chairs, half-eating vending machine snacks, half-listening to the professor rant about muscle fibers.
David slid into the back row, hoodie up, laptop open.
He tried to take notes. He really did. But muscle names started blending into monster names.
"The biceps femoris assists with knee flexion…"
…just like that three-headed wolf that kept dodging my axe swings.
Focus.
Stay grounded.
He scribbled:
"Monsters ≠ muscles."
After class, his professor pulled him aside.
"David, your last paper was… creative. But you wrote 'HP regen' instead of 'homeostasis.'"
David rubbed the back of his neck. "They're kind of the same thing though, right?"
"…No."
The professor sighed. "You used to be one of our top athletes before your injury. Now since you purposely asked for sports-medic course the university allowed you to switch courses halfway through the course period, don't make us disappointed?"
David paused.
He wanted to say: I lost everything I cared about. Then I fell into a virtual fantasy world full of monsters, scams, and fox-girls trying to seduce me.
Instead, he just shrugged. "Working on getting my groove back, I guess."
Back home, he flopped onto the couch. Janet was gone—late shift at the hospital again.
He pulled up his game earnings for the week.
Total: $227.14
Not bad. Not ballplayer money. But not nothing.
He opened his browser to check course assignments. The page loaded. He stared.
Then opened a tab for the Aetheris Online Wiki.
Five minutes later, he closed it.
Then sighed. Opened the assignment again.
"Fine," he muttered, starting to type. "One hour of homework. Then I kill another giant frog."