Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

The forest of death (I)

The mid-afternoon sun illuminated the Forest of Death. There were no other living beings than large trees capable of resisting the presence of death, or insects and animals capable of escaping and hiding from it.

Gjaki bittersweet smiled. In the game, had she been unlucky enough to go out at that time, she probably would have died from the sun's rays. There was no way a level 2 or 3 vampire could survive in that light, which had annihilated many novice vampires.

However, back then, she had survived thanks to a very powerful weapon called information. Gjaki knew that could happen, so she had been waiting with her other character for nightfall. Only then had she left the beginner's area.

However, this time she hadn't had that option. She therefore had worn clothes to protect herself from the sun. Those clothes were capable of completely blocking the light, and weren't accessible in the past to novice vampires.

She took refuge in the shade of a tree. The sun's pressure wasn't that strong there, so she could look around. The sunlight might damage her exposed skin or her eyes, but these were covered by gaudy sunglasses, and all of her skin was hidden.

It was the same place she remembered, a forest inhabited mainly by the undead, and another one of the jokes against the vampires. It wasn't that those beings were extremely powerful. They were even easy because of their slowness, at least for her. However, they lacked something fundamental. They had no blood with which to replenish the already empty reserves of the vampires who had just left the beginner's area, thus making it more difficult for them.

It is true that there were other beings, but they were elusive and difficult to catch, and usually small, so they didn't have much blood. Therefore, until reaching the beginner's village, there was no stable blood supply. Even there, it wasn't cheap.

So, it was necessary to reach that village after having eliminated enough enemies to be able to pay for the blood. It was also important to not suffer injuries on the way, because there was no way to heal them before arriving. Unfortunately, in the game, this beginner's area was off-limits to players of other races or higher level. It was impossible to receive supplies from others until reaching the beginner's village.

In other words, it was a tough survival test for fresh out vampires, one that many didn't pass. Some had tried it with several friends, by creating vampire characters and going in groups. However, that had attracted more and more enemies, thus making it even more difficult than going alone.

When they died, they returned to the beginner's area with all progress lost. Until reaching the beginner's village, it was an extreme survival game.

Not a few had cursed the developers and their entire family, including several generations, but nothing had changed. The administrators of the game had assured that it was a challenge for those who dared to play a tougher version of the game. If someone didn't like it, there were many other races and professions to choose from.

Gjaki had accepted the challenge, by relying on her agility to avoid damage, and slowly taking down her enemies. Still, it hadn't been easy. She had arrived at the beginner's village within an inch of her life, and with just enough resources to purchase the blood necessary to activate her skill and recover.

However, once there, she had been able to move forward more comfortably, as there was a place to protect herself, or to return to if she was killed.

Now, the situation was different from what it had been in the past. Although she didn't have to spare, she had blood, and, above all, a great knowledge of the game. What she worried about was what would happen if she died, plus the pain was real. The vampire had already checked it in the initiation zone.

Therefore, she took out the whip and Grab it in a tree branch. She then ran to the log, leaped over it, did a half somersault in the air, and propelled herself with her legs and the whip to reach a branch. From there, she should be safe. Low-level undead shouldn't be able to reach it, and the leaves protected her from the sun.

She decided to wait there until something appeared, or, at least, until the sun went down, and she could move without the threat of being charred.

Then, she took off a glove and brought her finger to a small beam of light that was filtering through the leaves. Her intuition told her that the sun was as dangerous as in the game, but she wanted to see to what extent it was a threat.

"Ow!" she complained, and quickly pulled her finger away.

It was the afternoon sun, which was less powerful than the midday one, but it still burned the tip of her finger in just an instant. Luckily, her Self-Regeneration began to work immediately to heal her.

The sun had almost set when a level 5 skeleton appeared approaching the tree. Gjaki frowned, as it was of a slightly higher level than had she expected. Shortly after, a couple more arrived, one at level 5 and another at 6.

"Damn it. They should be level 2 and 3. Maybe I should have leveled up to 3 with the dummies. Well, it's too late to regret it," she told herself.

At night, the undead are more active, and are drawn to the scent of the living. Unlike what can be said in other places, or can happen in other worlds, vampires are living beings, no matter how much they are associated with death. Therefore, they were walking under the tree, attracted by the presence of a vampire.

She drew a level 60 hammer from her inventory. She felt that she couldn't use it, as her level wasn't enough, but that didn't mean that she couldn't grab it. Gjaki could also drop it when one of the skeletons passed just below.

It was vulnerable to bludgeoning damage, so the level 5 skeleton was crushed by the hammer, which had been chosen for being extremely heavy. So much so, that she had been on the verge of dropping it after taking it out from the inventory.

After thinking about this tactic, Gjaki had climbed onto a rather high branch, so the force of the heavy hammer's impact had been extraordinary. It didn't take long for her to feel the gain of experience.