He fell on his ass, sweat pouring down the side of his face. He raised his arm to block the attack, closing his eyes. Augustus had completely forgotten they were holograms. They looked so life-like. He could see the tiny hairs on their skin. Their muscles cast shadows in ways that seemed too real. The goblins moved fluidly. Everything about them was lifelike.
The holograms vanished in the blink of an eye. He peeled one eye open, then the other. "They're gone?"
Is that a part of the sim?
"Sorry." a voice behind him said. Augustus turned to see a woman dressed in white at the kiosk. She had pressed the "END SIMULATION" button.
Recollecting himself, Augustus stood up. "You're good," he said.
The woman at the booth had long brown hair and light green eyes. In her hand was an archer's bow with several gem slots in it. "Haven't seen you in awhile." she joked. "Thought you skipped town."
It was Cleo Aldwin. She was in his class at Hunter's school. She had trained to be an archer, hence the bow, and was quite skilled even as a pseudo hunter. And she was an S rank Hunter.
Cleo adn he had started off as friends at the school. Since they lived in the same apartment, they would often see each other on the way to school in the mornings. For a while, they would walk together.
That is, until Cleo got a boyfriend.
"Where would I run to? This town is my home!" he joked back.
Cleo looked like she had been training. SHe was covered in sweat that had just started drying.
"I didn't mean to cut you off. Though it really looked like you had those goblins handled." She had always been a witty person. Witty in a way that made someone else the butt of her joke. But Augustus didn't mind it.
"Yeah, totally."
"You should get a weapon." Then she frowned and cocked her head. "What did you use to spar with at school?"
"A bo staff." he said. "I haven't got around to buying a new one, but I'm still pretty proficient with it."
Cleo raised her brows as she nodded. "That's right. You were pretty gnarly with that thing. Jacob still has pains from time to time because of you."
Embarrassment came over Augustus. He and Jacob, Cleo's lover, had sparred two times. Both times, Augusts had beat him. Once, he badly injured Jacob and cracked a few ribs.
"Yeah. sorry about that."
Cleo shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Pain kind've comes with being a hunter."
Together they went back downstairs. "You can probably pick up a new Bo staff for free here." Cleo told him. She showed him her bow. It was a recurve bow with two red gems near the handle. It was long with a taut string. "I got this here for simply graduating."
Augustus gasped. "They just gave that to you?"
She nodded. "The first two items are free. Though the items you get are kinda based on chance. I got lucky with this one."
"Do you like it?" he asked her. He noticed that she was leading him to the gym store.
"Oh yeah. Since i'm an elementalist, i want to use red gems. They're what lets me convert energy into elemental forces like fire." she plucked her bow like a guitar string. "And this string won't need to be replaced for a few months."