Haven Online

Chapter 12: New Friend*

One thing that should be known about Haven Online is that the monsters change at night. In the literal sense. They became bigger, stronger, and a lot more aggressive. Even the beginner town, where a player expects everything to be easy, was affected. So, as Xinya walked on the main road, back to the center of town, hearing someone scream this late at night was to be expected, seeing someone run towards him with two monsters on their tail, was a whole other thing.

As the person who was running got closer, Xinya saw that it was a young boy, around 13 or 14. He wasn't surprised by this since people over 13 are allowed to play with parental supervision and a guardian inside the game. Most of the poorer families encourage their children to play at a young age, so they could bring/generate extra income for the household.

Xinya saw that the two monsters that were chasing the boy, were Avaha's, they were a cross between a dog and a snail, fast but slimy and the grossest looking monster in all of the beginner town. They were blind but had a keen hearing, the slightest movement could set them off. As long as a person stayed completely motionless, Avaha's aggro would disappear.

Glancing around, Xinya saw that there was a tree nearby, if he could get to it he could use his Dryad racial skill of being one with nature to blend in with the tree, to be unseen, but it felt wrong just letting the boy die. After pondering for a bit on whether or not he should just leave the kid to those monsters, he decided to save the boy. Picking up a nearby rock, he threw it at the nearest dog, sprinting forward he grabbed the kid and then ran as fast as he could towards that tree, activating his racial skill.

Covering the boy mouth so that he couldn't speak, he watched as the Avaha's prowled around the tree, where they were hiding, for a couple of minutes before wandering off. Xinya stayed motionless in that position until he couldn't see the shadows of those dogs anymore.

After two more minutes passed, Xinya thought it was safe enough. Canceling his skill, he pushed the small boy away from him. Getting a better look at him, it turned out that he was a beastman, a wolf hybrid to be exact. Xinya felt an urge to pat his head because of how adorable the boy looked but didn't think the boy would appreciate that.

"Thank you for saving me, I would have been a goner if it weren't for you." The boy said cheerfully.

"You're welcome, but can you tell me why you were fighting here, alone, at night?" Xinya asked.

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Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, the boy said, "Well I was playing with a friend of my older brother earlier, but I had to stop playing to do a bit of real-world stuff and when I came back, that friend had already left beginner town."

"Alright, but that doesn't tell me why you're out here at night," Xinya said, exasperated.

"I'm getting to that. My brother didn't want me to stay in Beginner town by myself so he told me to level up more quickly, and as you know, the monsters give 2x experience at night. I just didn't think that they would become that strong."

"There's no such thing as a free lunch, you know." Xinya laughingly replied.

"You can say that again, by the way, I'm Melting Snow and you?"

"I'm Drifting Cloud, it's nice to meet you," Xinya said, smiling.

Getting closer to him, Melting Snow started inspecting Xinya everywhere. Getting flustered by the invasion of his personal space, Xinya pushed him back.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Xinya asked confused.

"Oh sorry, I just realized that you are a Dryad. I wanted to make one too because they look so cool, but my brother told me not too because they're the most worthless race in the whole game."

Even though Xinya knew that wasn't going to be true soon, his whole entire being suffered damage points when Melting Snow said that, but he just sucked it up and brushed the insult off because he knew that there would be a lot more of them until the update comes, especially when he picks his class. Xinya just gave Melting Snow a strained smile and left it at that.

Melting Snow knew he goofed up, he called the guy who saved him a piece of crap, well his race anyway. Laughing awkwardly he tried to think of something to segue to another topic.

"So what were you off to do, before you had to rescue me?" Melting Snow asked.

"Well, I was just going to check out the General Store to see what kind of items they had there. I heard it was cheaper than the ones you get when you leave for one of the starting cities." Xinya replied.

Tilting his head in confusion Melting Snow said, "Really? I never read anything like that on the forums."

"Oh...well, my friend told me about it," Xinya said.

"I see, well, I don't want to try grinding anymore tonight, so I will come with you if you don't mind."

"Sure, come along," Xinya replied with a smile. Suddenly, a notification box popped up.

Melted Snow has added you as a friend, do you accept?

Yes or No

Clicking on yes, Xinya and Melted Snow made their way to the general store. As they walked, or rather as he walked while Melted Snow skipped excitedly, talking a mile a minute by his side, he had to wonder if he made a mistake by saving the kid.