Chapter 184: Gaming at night

"Let's go," Vivian whispered, tapping Eldrian's shoulder to get his attention. They had been waiting for a few hours now, and after the first two passed they ran out of things to talk about. When that point was reached they simply sat in silence next to each other, Eldrian took that time to start browsing the forums. Searching for what the other players were doing to pass their time while traveling.

He found that they did not have a boring time, as Eldrian had thought they would. The commander of the division where the players were placed, Harris, had thought of a way to keep them entertained. While slowly letting them learn of the army and become part of it.

To accomplish this he had asked a few of the elite soldiers to set up a training area for the Chosen each night when they stopped. Going there the players could ask for guidance and even spar against a few soldiers. Something many of them immediately jumped on.

This was only the first step Harris took. After setting this up he also started giving minor quests to players. While the rewards were nothing to write about, the players could gain more practical experience through this.

Generally to take one of these quests a player first joined a few of the training sessions. After doing three, or reaching an acceptable expertise level, they would be given a chance to take one of the quests.

These quests were generally simple, having the players join as recruits in a certain part of the army. They could choose which part they wished to join. This gave the players the feeling that they were in power, with Harris never forcing them to join any of these activities. Most if not all the players had by now.

While one or two silver for the simple quest was not much, it quickly added up and the players enjoyed being more active. Simply traveling day in and day out quickly becomes boring, especially in these lands where there was nothing to look at.

There was also an even more alluring reward than the small amount of coin and XP. If players accomplished a certain amount of quests and training sessions, they would be allowed to pick a skill or spell to learn.

Eldrian had to admit that he would also have joined these training sessions. The added quests were not even needed, nor were the skills and spells. He would have wanted to take advantage of being able to spar against some experienced soldiers, this was already more than enough for him.

The tap on his shoulder brought Eldrian out of his thoughts and reading. He placed these thoughts at the back of his mind and turned his attention to the task at hand. Glancing at Vivian in the process, seeing her condition causing sadness and anger to smolder in him.

When looking at her one could not help but immediately see the gaping hole where her eye used to be, along with many other scars still covering her body. Even in the dim light from the setting sun, Eldrian could clearly see these. Her hair was tied tightly into a bun to not get into the way, revealing the hilt of Nilida's Flam swung over her shoulder.

Eldrian nodded to her to indicate that he was ready, slowly standing up from his position and looking over to the fires. "Are we not going to wait for night to completely come?"

"It doesn't matter. They won't dare follow us once we pass the fires' light. There is also no reason they would even try." Vivian spoke softly, not wishing for anyone nearby to overhear them.

"Then... We are really doing this?" Eldrian asked, swallowing with difficulty as he tried imagining what the Night Terrors were, which everyone was so wary of.

"Yes. When I was running from the Oni, I never even ran into one Night Terror. I do not know if it was luck, or if people believe them to be more common than they actually are. But I am willing to risk it." Through a sigh, she mumbled the following, "I much prefer facing a known enemy than waiting for a dagger."

"Alright." Eldrian nodded to affirm his acceptance. He was not worried for himself, but only for her. Much like her, he thought the same, they could at least prepare for what might happen in their travel. They could not do much in the army. This area should also be very safe due to the other divisions going out of their way to kill all monsters and beasts they came across.

Readying themselves, mentally and physically, they both watched the guards responsible for taking care of the fires. Waiting for them to turn their attention to the outside darkness. As soon as most of the guards did, they both started walking.

They started out slowly, staying low and quiet. Until they reached the light. From there they both ran at their top speed. Even going so far as to use their skills to enhance their speed.

Eldrian, not wishing to be left behind, decided to try out the bonus from his hidden class. This was the first time he tried to use it. Luckily for him, simply keeping it in mind while activating his skill seemed to lead to it working.

With most of his free attribute points spent in agility, plus now the 42 extra from Accelerate, Eldrian managed to keep up to Vivian. Almost just as fast as her. They both crossed the twenty or so meters of light in a second, disappearing into the dark.

The guards had almost no time to react to what happened. They had all focused on the outside where they were expecting something if anything were to come. The strongest of them was also only Tier 4, most of them being Tier 3 and 2. NPCs also could not decide how to distribute their attributes, rather it would increase according to how they trained. As such none of them were nearly as fast as both Vivian and Eldrian, enhanced with skills.

Looking at the two silhouettes disappearing into the dark, none of the soldiers thought of chasing them. They were curious about why someone would run away, especially at night. However, they did not care much, believing that it would lead to nothing. They sent one person to relay the information to their captain, while the rest joked about how the two would soon die.

After running at almost top speed for close to 10 minutes, they had easily crossed over three kilometers. The light of the division long since not visible in their sight.

Taking a breather, Eldrian asked, while being surprised that his stamina had not run out while running for so long, "Where to now?"

"Northeast. My dad should be one of the front most divisions on the right of the entire formation. If we simply continue traveling we should run into other divisions. At the very least we will be able to see them when day comes."

"Alright, what direction is Northeast?" Eldrian asked, realizing that he had no idea how this moon rose and dawned, nor which stars were used to guide one at night. He could naturally use his map, since it had a compass in it. He asked to allow him to also learn how to determine the direction through nature. There was really no reason why, Eldrian was simply curious.

Vivian quickly determined their path by use of the stars, explaining to Eldrian how to do it once they set off again. Similar to Earth, a few key stars in the sky were generally used for direction. The moon could also be used, but it varied more than the stars.

Thanks to it being a half-moon the two had no trouble determining where they needed to walk. They could not see color, and certainly no detail, but the moon gave enough light to outline everything. Allowing them to walk at a brisk speed in the dark, even running every now and then to cross more distance.

Slowly time passed. The moon flew from their right to atop of them, at which point they decided to take a break. Both quite hungry and thirsty.

"How much further do you think?" Eldrian asked, feeling like they were being observed the entire time they had been traveling. A large part of why he felt this was because he never played at night before, hence the entire situation being strange to him. Naturally, he had played a few hours into the night every now and then, but he had never played past midnight. Seeing the world so dark, gave him a weird feeling.

"I don't really know. I think we should be halfway. We just need to continue on our path and we should reach them by daybreak."

Eldrian nodded and took out some of the food still in his inventory. Of the three baskets that had been filled for their return travel, all of them were still over half. One was almost under, this being a juicy and sweet fruit.

Eldrian took out some of these specific ones for him and Vivian. Sitting down they both enjoyed the fruit, juice dripping from their hands and chins as they looked at the stars and savored the taste.

In the midst of them both enjoying their snack, they felt an impending danger. The hairs on their necks standing up, and so did they. As they jumped, a dark, almost invisible figure, dashed past where they used to be. Chills running down both their backs as they realized how close to death they had just been.

"What the hell?" Eldrian shouted as he pulled Aoidos from his inventory; Vivian pulling Nidia's Flame from her back and letting it feed on her mana. Causing it to burst into flames and reveal the creature that attacked them.