Chapter 20 Another One (5)

"I am not too much familiar with games myself, but is this kind of thing normal?" Louise asked. "Find a land covered in snow very close to a tropical forest?"

"No…" Jake replied. "Usually, the game developers would put a map or two to separates these kinds of biomes. I suppose the game designer responsible for some missions got lazy at some point."

As if things weren't weird enough, Jake couldn't find the Deadly Bees in the snow, but he could find some Snow Wolves that looked far more dangerous. Despite that, they didn't try to approach the forest, probably because they would get weaker in such weather. The snow wolves were like two meters tall and four meters long. If it weren't for their long claws and fangs that were the size of daggers, they would look pretty assume with their silver-like fur and blue eyes. Jake wanted one of them as a battle pet.

Snow Wolf Lv 15

Health: 180/180

Mana: 90/90

Stamina: 140/140

"The area ahead is for a far more difficult mission, we can't challenge these monsters yet," Jake said.

"What? Where is your sense of adventure?" Lana asked. "Are you really scared of a game over?"

"You can talk big once you start hitting the monsters with spells," Jake replied. "Until then, your words have no weight whatsoever."

Lana bit her lips in frustration since Jake was right. She hated to admit it, but being stubborn wouldn't help her in any way. While Louise was patting Lana's shoulders, Jake tried to find the dungeon of the Snow Wolves, but he didn't find it. He could see it at the center of the map, probably. So, trying to localize it while he was on the border between the two of them was naturally crazy.

"Let's look for the dungeon of the Deadly Bees," Jake said. "Don't forget to keep your eyes open for the herbs."

In the end, after two hours of looking for it, they didn't find a single herb or even the dungeon inside the forest. It was only obvious that it would be hard to find. Still, they didn't find even a single-player there. Jake was surprised. Louise gave Jake the wand to sell it when they returned to the crystal server town.

"Let's go for another run after lunch," Lana said.

"No thanks," Jake said while checking the rewards of that mission which were five hundred coins, fifty points in fame, and five mana potions. "You guys already have the skills to defeat the fire slimes. You don't need my help."

"Geez… how unsocial can you be?" Lana asked. "Even I know that games likes this aren't meant to be played alone."

"Did we do or say something that upset you?" Louise asked.

"No, it is just my preference," Jake said while he was thinking about what he should do next.

"Speaking of which, where are you from?" Louise asked.

"Speaking of which… how come both topics are related in anyway?" Jake frowned.

"I am from Paris, but right now I am living in Atlantic City," Louise said.

"Really? Me too!" Lana said while smiling from ear to ear. "How crazy is that?"

Louise also seemed pretty pleased, but Jake was troubled. That was really crazy because he was also from Atlantic City. However, he wasn't going to reveal that in any way. Jake decided to ignore them and do some math. In that run, he gained almost eight thousand coins. Let's say that this hunting speed increases by ten percent after every mission. It still will take four rounds for Jake to obtain fifty thousand coins. Putting that aside, Jake decided to log off and then make his lunch.

Although it took him a while, Jake decided to cook some rice, beans, and some chicken. He also made some lemon juice. While that took him two hours, it was no problem since no matter what happened, he won't obtain the next weapon before the evening of the next day.

When Jake returned, he sighed because he found Louise and Lana right there waiting for him. It seemed that they couldn't take a no for an answer… Jake now had two options, be immature and make them run away by shouting at them, or be mature and try to convince them to find another melee member for their party. Naturally, the second option wouldn't work. Jake could recognize someone stubborn when he saw one because he was very stubborn as well.

"You are late," Lana said. "Did you cook your lunch or something?"

"Of course I did it," Jake frowned. "You will collapse of hunger."

"Don't be stupid, we ordered our lunch and finished it one hour ago," Lana said. "Still, I am surprised that someone like you can actually cook."

"Don't lump us together," Jake said. "By the look of things, it seems that you can't even cook an omelet."

"What? How dare you say that?" Lana asked. "Of course I know how to make one… something of that level is too easy for me."

Jake rolled his eyes. The acting of skills of that girl was way below average, probably at the same level as her cooking skills. In any case, Louise was smiling as if seeing someone like Lana was pretty relaxing. When she noticed Jake's gaze, she only shrugged.

"I can make instant noodles," Louise said.

"Good for you," Jake said.

Jake began to think about the current situation again. While he wouldn't gain more coins in a party, the chances of him obtaining more drops would increase. While the last mission didn't grant him many of those, it sure was an improvement compared with the previous one when he went alone. Jake had to confirm that, and to do so, he had to go on another mission with them. However, he decided to hunt the Giant Bats. He got unlucky this time since his timing to log in had been the same as those two, but he could always change his playtime and do it at night to not be bothered… in case he doesn't gain more drops.