Chapter 4: Chapter Three: The First Statue and The Radiant Forest
I gasped deeply and woke up holding my head, no wound was there…
*clank* *clank*
There was echo and I saw Gara still fighting… I lost my weapon, I have nothing yet I must save Gara. I ran to the nearest knight's body and borrowed his sword, it was from the kind that needs only one hand so I decided to take the shield with me and screamed "Gara, stay behind me" and I posed my shield to protect me from the strong continuous Goblin's hits.
Gara said crying with red eyes "I don't know what happened, your body has disappeared in front of me and I lost all hope".
"Even I don't know what is happening, let's concentrate on getting rid of the Goblin now".
I gave him the sword and kept the shield. Luckily, the shield still intact and I started to feel the Goblin's unceasing blows weaken which made me push him hardly and knock him down. I held him steady with all my strength and told Gara to finish him, this time the sword came out from the back of his head. The Goblin turned to a blue light like a radiant blue energy divided to tiny shrapnel entering to my arm as well as Gara's. When I looked to my arm I found:
George
Attack: 0
Defense: 3
Points of experience: 120
Price: 1
Gara
Attack: 3
Defense: 0
Points of experience: 240
Price: none
My feet failed me, and I felt shivers down my spine. By holding my head, I still remember the feeling of the stab I took but there wasn't any scars. I'm fine….
How, I don't understand what happened?
Gara sat next to me powerless as much as me, we couldn't speak till we pulled ourselves together.
"What happened here?" he didn't hide his tears or fear for me.
"I thought you really have died and vanished in front of my eyes…"
"I don't know… I know nothing, I heard a voice inside my head after being stabbed and then I returned to the beginning"
I didn't want to talk, I just wanted to ease my heartbeats. The heavy pulsing inside my mind causing me headache, maybe I have died and I am dreaming… or that my mind didn't comprehend what happened.
I should speak to calm myself down, I have to keep my mind from thinking. Yes, the city… we must go back.
Then, I heard Gara's defeated voice "are you real… or illusion? Convince me that you are here"
"I don't know anything about this gate, maybe this is illusion or we are living our imagination"
"Never mind Gara, I am real"
After losing interest in me and calmed down, we didn't accept the situation but decided to move to the beginning and determine what to do and analyze what we have seen.
⾨
We got to the gate, and in our way back we took some of the swords and armors. Fortunately, most of the bodies were there for a long time so it was easy to take the armors. We looked at our arms, in the past we had only LV and nothing else since we got in here.
Everything I see here is new to me, the points of experience may increase with every time I kill but I don't know what it does. And the Attack and Defense, I can know what it does and from here I understood that it depend on what you carry and need nothing else.
What makes me worry is the Price… I have 1 and Gara has 0, I can imagine that it has something to do with my death and getting back to the beginning.
"We have to go back to city, I am worried about them" I was deeply thinking and uttered these words.
"Now I'm sure you are real…"
I'm used to Gara's anger when I say they city, I decided to ignore him this time and search for a weapon to proceed in the way back. We don't know anything about this place, yet we must go back. Usually I prefer using a big weapon that depends on strength and smashing the enemy, but we don't know anything about how much hard the enemies are. I decided to take a shield and a regular sword that was about to break because it was the best available… since my sword and Gara's dagger didn't increase Attack or Defense for some reason.
"I have found myself an excellent dagger, so I want to use it because of its rigidity and at the same time I have sharpened it. Maybe it will not affect them, but the defense will be easier thanks to the oil that makes them lose balance".
For some reason, Gara was excited for the adventure and that was contrary to what I am thinking about right now…perhaps he decided to get in for this… thinking about this matter made me mad. The current situation caused me fatigue … so we decided to borrow some armors from the disintegrated corpses. Most of them were in a bad shape and their weight didn't help us to wear them, but Gara decided to take armors for his hand and shoulder only. I decided to take armor for my chest and feet, and specifically for my thighs.
George
Attack: 90 (★ 4)
Defense: 200 (chest ★ 8 – thighs ★ 5)
Points of experience: 120
Price: 1
Gara
Attack: 130 (★ 30)
Defense: 90 (hand ★ 10 – shoulders ★ 30)
Points of experience: 240
Price: 0
On our way to the first gate, Gara told me that he thinks that the stars mean the durability of the gear due to my worn out sword.
I am still mad at Gara who enjoys the current situation and he never mentioned anything about the outside world. I decided to keep silent till I am calm so he wouldn't notice. I just nodded agreeing to what he said.
⾨
We have arrived to the place where we killed the Goblin.
We have now three tracks before us and all of it are illuminated by the light that is coming from the ceiling and spreading by the mirrors, we can see another four tracks the light hasn't reached.
There is a statue at the end of each track and it has specific color.
Red, green, white, black.
We didn't know which one to choose, so we picked the closest to us.
"George, let's go to the red track and see what is there, I can see few Goblins".
The Goblin was similar to the previous one, we have fought lots of them in the woods…we have great experience in fighting monsters, but the way the powers works here is odd so we stepped forward very carefully… or as the way I wanted but Gara's hasty steps caught the Goblin's attention to us.
Gara finished him so fast by cutting his feet and taking the Goblin's weapon to kill him.
Once again the body turned into energy and entered our arms, but nothing has changed nor the points of experience increased… till I shouted to Gara "behind you!" I came with the shield and blocked it easily and finished him. We are now surrounded with eight Goblins that are all alike in terms of shape. The strange thing is that the moves at the attacks are the same as if they don't have intelligence or cleverness which make the process of getting rid of them easy.
I have learned from Gara to not use my sword and kill them with theirs. I have noticed that maybe my sword has a strong attack by chance in comparison to the other swords spread, also Gara has a very powerful dagger.
After the fight has finished and everybody have transformed, I started to feel a change in my body, the gear became a little bit lighter but I can feel it.
The data was updated after we became in safe mode, we have gained 1000 points of experience in total, 650 for Gara and 350 for me.
Throughout the red statue road, we have reached a place that was a little higher. It was like a big circle that has seven bridges connected to the other statues, three of which are illuminated. Before going to the bridge leading to the red gate, Gara said "so the one who is doing the killing gains most of the points…"
"Ah," something simple like this can easily be noticed but my mind was still outside.
"I don't know how the points of experience work here, but I guess it is close to how it works outside. The more points you gain, the more you could use the things available here"
Gara picked up a sword from the ground and started to sewing it smoothly then continued,
"At the beginning of our entrance, it was heavier than now, perhaps when the points of experience get higher…do you hear me George?" I wasn't listening carefully "yes, all we have to do is gaining more points of experience".
"Do you think about the outside? Do you believe that we own this time? It took us years of killing every day at the woods and we didn't face any problem…to the extent it was so boring, a few hours ago you have been killed by a very weak creature… lucky for us the things are weird in here"
I didn't have an answer "Gara, you need to calm down… I am thinking of the city… we didn't prepare any one to carry on after us… maybe the merchant is refusing to deal with them and the period of poverty that we went through is coming back".
"Do you think that you can change anything while you are here? Is thinking about outside will do you any good? We have to focus and get out of here alive!!" Gara's shout pissed me off although he was right, "indeed, we have to get out of here alive and find you a pretty wife".
"It seems that you have got back to normal, let's go and see what's there behind the first statue".
His attitude convinced me that he is enjoying the situation… I didn't comment, maybe it is our way back. I have blind faith in him but it seems that I can't hide my anger…I'm not like Gara, he always speaks his mind when he sees me pushing myself hard…we should learn at this place to become better and evolve, and get back to our city.
⾨
I let Gara to lead the way and he told me for the thousandth time about what he is thinking of…in short, we should focus on everything here and forget the outer world and our fighting experience.
There were seven statues separated from each other, and every statue has its own bridge; that means seven bridges to each statue. The first three statues were at the right.
We have arrived at the red statue and we could see it more clearly. It was for the Goblin's king and down his feet centered the entry gate. We couldn't recognize the shapes of the other statues.
Through our way on the first bridge, it was very dark beneath so if the ropes get cut and the bridge fall apart, we are done. I don't know how Gara wasn't scared… we arrived to the statue and it was huge with red color, it was 6 meters in height and 3 meters in width.
There was a small gate, when we approached it, we have noticed that it was carved as the shape of a forest and fire and it has many symbols that we didn't understand but a single phrase.
╗
1000 points of experience for passing
╚
We felt our arms radiating and 1000 points of experience (which are all what we got) have been taken from me and Gara.
The gate opened and we heard a voice talking "welcome to the first gate, the radiant forest. This gate will be the beginning of your journey just like those who came before you. Please step forward and you will find a box, you must get rid of everything you have"
The voice is inside my head, it was something weird I am not used to. It is like some one is talking to me from above not from behind. I looked at Gara "did you hear?" he nodded and turned carefully.
We decided to go to the red box. After entering the gate, we saw the wooden ground and the box was on the left, bottomless; that is, it may never get full no matter how much gear you have. After we got ride of all our possessions, the voice came back "right now you are at the beginning area. As you know, there is nothing called death at this place…you will just lose some of the experience points and get back to this little cottage. You have to move forward to the small door, there is a place for your hands to put in"
Gara spoke "is there…" and the voice said again "right now you are at the beginning area. As you know, there is nothing called death at this place…you will just lose some of the experience points and get back to this little cottage. You have to move forward to the small door, there is a place for your hands to put in"
Whenever we tried to talk to it, it will repeat the same sentences…
We went to the door, on its left there was a simple sketch. I didn't understand the writing but the sketch said that we should put the arm through the little hole in the wall. I put my hand.
"You have now a very old system, so the system in your hand has been updated to be better for this place"
"You can pass"
The door in front of me has opened, I waited for Gara till the voice spoke "you must get rid of everything, some one has a dagger type weapon".
"It seems that I can't deceive the system here".
After he got rid of everything, we returned to zero in Attack, Defense and points of experience.
The system in my hand hasn't changed… I don't know what it means by update…we have been born primarily with these things and we know its source only from old tales.
We passed the door to get in the radiant forest.
The voice speaks "this gate is designed to prepare you for passing the final gates…if you passed it without dying, you will gain a legendary weapons".
"In case of two deaths, the weapons will be of a rare type, while if it was three deaths you will have nothing".
Gara: "its name is the radiant forest…."
The name is really ironic because it was dark and creepy…
The ground was of black soil and there were black trees, the light is so dim we can't see clearly except for the way ahead…
There were silhouettes for creatures on our right and left, and the sound of the trees' movement made our skin shivering…
It seems that the voice don't want to help us.
"We must move cautiously, we have seen how the gear work here and its effect"
Gara said looking at the road "move cautiously while we have nothing but this road…"
Indeed, we only have the dim road… so we followed the light cautiously since we couldn't risk entering a dark place without fire or gear…
⾨
We walked for a short while and loosened our defense, and nothing happened.
Gara ran out of patience so he hastened his pace, so did I. I understand his feeling and followed him because he has great dribbling ability without exerting any effort.
After walking, we started to see a far place because of the light, as if the purpose from the gate was to reach it, or that was what my mind wanted.
Nothing happened, so Gara walked faster once again.
The light began to faint, but our eyes got used to darkness so we could see just well. At our way to the light, we noticed that the bodies were stabbed in the eye or the heart… we came closer quickly to take the gear, but we have got only a worn axe and a regular dagger.
The gear have been taken from all the bodies…
"Don't you wonder why there are corpses at the first place?"
Why should I wonder? What does he mean really? Dead people means there must be a corpse.
"Maybe you didn't see what happened when you died…you have turned into a kind of energy and vanished, you disappeared before my eyes!"
Before I could say anything, we heard a scream inside our heads "well done…actually I was feeling bored and I wanted to talk but there wasn't any reason to that"
Aha, the sound inside our heads came back but it was different from the one we heard before.
"At the gates, hearing becomes the choice of giving up and returning to the beginning point. In this case, the corpse stays and lose the chance to try again and lose all your gear and the points of experience that you have gained or saved in the cottage. For example, there is someone has fear from spiders, so when facing an enemy from the spider type, he will not stand a chance to beat it because of that fear. So he choose to surrender and try inside another gate. As you see, I am keen that you finish the gate and get out of here peacefully"
Then, the voice subsided and never spoke again no matter how much we talked to.
"So, we are being watched?"
Watched…in fact, I didn't care…we know nothing here and I don't want to know, I just want to get out of here safely… Gara wanted to have fun so I made everything for him.
George
Attack: 7 (★ 3) axe with three strokes to break
(If you held it with both hands you will have 12)
Defense: 0
Special advantage: none
Points of experience: 0
Price: 1
Gara
Attack: 10 (★ 3)
Defense: 0
Special advantage: if you received a stroke, the Attack will double
For 5 seconds per strike
Points of experience: 0
Price: 0
Special advantage? A light that came out of my arm has got my attention and it became bigger… as if there were more things to show up, then I looked at Gara "do you have a special advantage?"
He looked at me and smiled "of course, the system here knows my fighting methods".
We heard the sound of chains…in front of us, we stopped talking and saw a shadow approaching slowly… we were hearing the sound of chains with every step…
We didn't have any Defense, so Gara suggested "first of all, let's attack"
I wasn't used to this.
We moved forward slowly in order to see what we are going to encounter at this place, we don't know what is there, human? Or beast… his appearance is human with a hybrid face. His human body is so fat to the point he can't see his feet. If we overran him, he couldn't follow us…but at this place we must kill to have strength points as well as gear.
The fear was from his long-range weapon which was a shiny chain, and his armor was covering his whole body except for the bulgy belly area.
I thought that if I blocked the chain with the sword, the chain would break the sword and my hand as well.
Gara and I didn't have an easy solution to strike ahead, so that made us decide to rely on speed and moving ahead.
He has a chain in his right hand and tiny dagger in his left. We attacked him from his left side. He did nothing although we were approaching.
Gara stopped and decided to watch in case his right hand move, whereas I was targeting the gap in his armor between his shoulder and his left arm. I moved forward and thrusted my sword into his left arm, but he ignored me and cut himself by slitting his belly on his own which made his blood gushing heavily on the ground.
We had no idea about what he is doing!
The blood spilled on the sand and a very powerful beam shot off it that blinded and hurt my eyes.
I felt nothing… but I could hear Gara's shouting "be careful…"
Then, I returned to the cottage.
⾨
Now I know why it is called the radiant forest.
Fortunately, I decided to get down and it seemed that George has died again.
The beam was still strong and my eyes didn't adjust to it. I have to return to the beginning or I will be dead here…
Since the hybrid was slow, I have noticed that it took him a long time to pull the chain once again in order to attack. My hunch, and maybe my fear, told me that I have to charge right now!!
Amidst the bright light, I took the dagger which was 0 in Attack and nailed it in his left hand. With all strength, I forced him to get down so my dagger was like a nail holding his hand to the ground.
I felt the chain was coming back so I stepped away and made him attack himself with it. It smashed his face and blood scattered.
Gara defeated him and kept going.
!
Information:
= I will talk about Gara's methods
Gara and George have great experience in fighting as they reached limit 20 throughout the past years.
Gara prefers to use movement and dagger because he doesn't like to feel the pain.
Since George is always blaming himself, he prefers to take all the damage. He likes to take armor and shield and be in the front.
Inside the gate:
- George died once
- They took their time to adjust to the light and get used to the enemies and weapons usage.
- There are 7 statues and each one of it has a different shape.
!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone