Chapter 38: New Horizons

"Wait! Big fat human! I want to go with Seth", the squeaky shout echoed across the room as Seth was about to step into the portal. Simon had a difficult expression on his face.

-Minutes Earlier-

A hushed conversation in high voices as a lot of fairies tried to reason with one of theirs.

"You can´t do that!"

" Yeah! Now that Leader and Vice-Leader are gone, you have to lead us!"

"You saved us! You are a hero! You have to come back with us!"

The older looking fairy came forward and grabbed the person in questions shoulder.

"Fin, are you sure?", his voice was calm and the steady grip of his hand transferred warmth and strength to her. "You would be heralded as a hero when you come back. You could leave the corps and live an easy life! Do you really wish to go with him?"

"He´s my- our benefactor. He even braught back our dead! The least we can do is try to help him. Seth is an ori huma, he has never seen a different world and may need our support. You are all hurt and weakened, that´s why I will go with him. When you get back the leader and vice-leader will recover, so you will be fine!", Fin reassured her companions. Among her people she seemed much more mature and serious.

The older fairy nodded and gave her a pad on both shoulders. " I see, your decision is firm." After this the other fairies also calmed down. She was right, they owed their life to this human. All they could do at the moment was to engrave it into their memories.

-present time-

The group of fairies stayed silent when Fin rushed over towards the young human and the portal. The priest's expression told them, that their worries might have been more justified than they had anticipated.

"Seth! Please let Fin come with you!", Fin flew in front of his face and requested. A new window popped up for him.

<Ding! -Fairy Fin- send you a party invite. Y/N>

It was the new party function! Would he have been able to see this if he had not unlocked it yet? Seth did not have to ponder long about the decision. He clicked yes.

He found Fin quite adorkable and teasing her was fun. And he had almost gone insane in the weeks he had spent forging. It had shown him that even he was hard pressed without social interaction for a long time. There had been times he would have liked some company.

<Ding! Choose which information you wish to disclose in the party menu!>

Next, he saw his status and he could choose which parts of his status Fin would be able to see and which he wanted to hide. As much as he came to like her, he only knew her for a few days. He hid everything about his class and skills. He saw no problem in showing his attributes, name, race, or level. He confirmed and-

<Ding! You have entered a Party with -Fin Bellsmiter-!>

<Ding! You have formed a party with fair folk and gained the others full trust! LUCK+1>

<Ding! While in a party with fair folk, your luck will temporarily increase by 10.>

Two little windows appeared in the upper corner of his view, which showed his and fins health and mana! A typical party interface from MMOs.

Another window popped up; it was Fin's full status.

<

Name: Fin Bellsmiter

Title: "Brute of the Fair Folk"

Level: 47

Exp: 45%

Race: Fairy

Sex: Female

Age: 204

Class: Battle Cleric (Unique)

Affiliation: Fair Folk

Health: 1000/1000

Mana: 820

Strength:117

Dexterity:10

Agility: 90

Intelligence:45

Willpower:35

Endurance:70

Personality: 55

Luck:47

>

So much for her cute act! What is with this class? And this status? And most of all that TITLE!?

Not just that, he could also see her skills. Fin had a mix of melee combat-skills which focused on hand-to-hand combat like a monk, and support skills consisting of prayer and nature ballads.

This small little fairy could most like punch the living daylights out of him, whenever she felt like it! One thing was clear, the chance of her becoming a burden was very small. If Seth did not take care, he might become the damsel in distress that needed saving!

On the other side Fin´s eyes sparkled, despite not even seeing his class or skills. Just his attributes, level and title seemed to have mesmerized her.

This all took long to describe, but only took mere moments in real time. Just enough time for Simon to collect his thoughts.

"Ah, Seth! About entering the portal, I have to-"

"Hurry? Ok, ok, I- we won´t cost you any more time!", Seth calmed the old man down and stepped into the gate. Fin following right behind him, giving the priest a stank eyes. She guessed what the priest had wanted to say. Simon was at a loss as he stared blankly at the gate.

Travelling over the Pathworks felt similar to dipping into ice-cold water, without the chill. The heart throbbed, the stomach turned and an instinctive state of primal panic washed over him.

As fast as the feeling came it was also gone when he left the weird pitch-black in-between-world on the other side of the gate.

And there was the feeling again! The heart throbbed, the stomach dropped and a primal panic flooded his brain as his foot stepped on air and Seth fell over into a free fall. The infant stage of a scream was already growing in his throat as-

<Ding! Skill: Calm Reaction (Passive) lv.6 has become Calm Reaction (Passive) lv.7!>

it got merciless killed by <Calm Reaction> leveling up. Followed by a "thump!" as his three-meter fall ended face first in a sand dune. Upon which his now calm mind decided on the only logical sequence of actions. He took a deep breath and-

"FUCK! These fucking pieces of-", Seth roared and cursed up a storm of colorful insults while spitting sand like a sand dragon. All trust was lost, all friendship was gone. Simon would eat his fist when he met him again!

Fin had naturally started flying with her wings and was now watching Seth spitting sand and flailing around on the ground, trying to stand up and get the Sand out of all the nooks and crannies it was stuck in.

Before him laid a vast landscape of sand dunes, a desert. Behind him grew a huge mountain range into the sky. He was supposed to be send to a city called Ora close to a dwarven kingdom on the Namian continent. Seth had planned traveled around and find or buy ores and items to increase his catalogs. And they had thrown him into a god damn desert!

What stopped him from cursing for another half an hour, was the high-pitched laughter above him. Fin the brutish fairy, was amused by Seth´s plethora of vocabulary, and could not help but enjoy the show.

Noticing the heavy breathing man, looking up to her with a twitching eye, she decided to calm him down.

"Don´t worry too much! Fin is with you!", she boasted and struck er flat chest. " This is a normal thing the church does to ori huma. It´s the price of your travel, they will put in a random deviation. We are definitely somewhat close to our destination, whether getting there is a struggle or a walk in the park is a matter of luck."

Seth was still pissed as his eyes laid on a new world, where the sun slowly sank towards a new horizon