The mission for the expedition force was a group quest to cut down the Blood Wolves population that skyrocketed in Blood Forest, and the other goal is to capture the cubs of the Blood Wolves, who will then become the mounts of the Empire's Wolf Cavalry.
The expedition quest had been the talk of the fortress town for the last few days. That even users staying in the inner cities of the empire had travelled all the way to this border fortress just to participate in this expedition, making the already crowded fortress even more crowded, some players had even decided to just camp out just outside of the border town with how crowded the place that there are already no available inns for their avatars to stay the night since the last few days.
Michael quickly made his way towards the meeting place the moment he arrived at Stormwind.
"Mike over here! It's been a while!"
"It's only been four to five days that we haven't seen each other here and you're already acting like its been a few years"
Tina, who is covered in leather armor just cutely stuck her tongue out towards him.
"Che! Come, let me introduce you to my team!" Tina quickly pulled one of his arms and led him towards the place where teammates are already waiting for them.
"This is Asuka, our Cleric. Harrison, our Champion, then Rick the Wizard and Kora, our Assassin"
Tina started introducing the members of the very first team that she had joined permanently to Michael.
Asuka is an orange haired woman, wearing an all black cassock with the regalia of the god embroidered on her right chest that she's aligned with, a pair of boots and armguard made from steel and leather, while armed with a spiked flail and a round shield.
While the white haired Harrison is covered in a simple looking silver heavy armor from head to toe, and armed with a tower shield and a saber.
Then there's the black haired Rick and Kora, whom the former is dressed in a grey wizard robe and a wooden wizard staff, while the latter is covered in leather armor from her upper body to her toes, along with a small hooded cape and armed with a pair of short swords.
"Guys! This is my brother, Michael, an as-...a Warrior?" Tina suddenly stopped and then stared at the sword handle sticking out Michael's back.
"Did...did you undergo another class change?"
"Yep, just like you, it happened just a few days ago"
"That's amazing, so what's your level now?"
Tina asked, who sounded really amazed, even the faces of the others can't help but light up when they heard him.
"I'm level twenty five, what about you guys?" Michael asked.
"Amazing! I'm only at level twenty here" Tina said.
"Me too" Asuka said.
"I'm twenty one," Harrison said.
"Already twenty two"
"Same here"
Rick and Kora said simultaneously.
"Hehe, how have you been Michael?" Asuka suddenly walked over to Michael and bent her body towards him, while acting cute.
"Huh? I'm okay, do I know you from somewhere?" Michael looked confused as he suddenly felt that this woman in front of him is somewhat familiar.
"You jerk, its me! Emma!" Asuka fumed with anger.
"Emma? What are you doing here!?" Michael finally realized who it was, and was a bit surprised.
"What do you mean by that? Of course, I'm playing this game! Don't tell me that you guys are the only one allowed to play this?"
In anger, Asuka kicked Michael's shin, which made the latter dryly laugh.
In the corner of his eye, Michael saw their Wizard called Rick is watching them with a wounded look on his face, and immediately realized that this man probably has a thing towards Emma.
But he just ignored him, because if a man can't get the attention of the woman he likes, then that's his fault for not trying enough.
"Then this must be Casey then" Michael said, as he stared at Kora, the assassin.
"Yup, us three bff's are finally playing this game together!" Tina and Asuka laughed.
"Yo!" Casey only said that, and nothing more.
"Hahaha, you're still a woman of few words I see" Michael just laughed, as he already knew that she's like that.
Michael learned that they had just found out from each other a few days ago in real life that they are all playing Fate Online at the same time, and the funny thing is that they never wanted the others to find out that they are playing the game until their levels are high enough.
It was because the three girls had the same goal in their minds when they decided that, and is that they wanted to become a bus and carry their two best friends in the game, and they realized it a few days ago that they are truly best friends as they even had the same goal in their minds!
'Tsk! They must have just wanted to have the bragging rights of being the higher leveled among the three of them' Michael clicked his tongue in amus.e.m.e.nt.
Still, it was evident that Michael was surprised that the two girls are able to level up this far, and had probably been on serious hunting sprees because they had leveled up faster than other typical users.
'Well, there is also the possibility that they used the beauty trap to have the men around them do most of the hard work, instead of being skilled in game mechanics' Michael laughed inside, because it would be really funny if it's the former.
While the two guys who are with them knows them in real life, as Harrison is Emma's first cousin, while Rick is Harrison's good buddy who certainly likes the somewhat flirty Emma.
And this team of four people have been playing the game with each other in a city that's located in the distance between Stormwind Fortress and the Imperial Capital, so they took the chance to meet each other in game when the expedition quest came up a few days ago.
Emma then soon invited Michael into their team as the sixth and last member, and they slowly made their way towards the nearby army barracks to register their team for the upcoming expedition or punitive quest.
"They had already announced that the requirement to join the expedition quest is level twenty and above or in this world's terms, possessing an orange mana and above"
"This mission will be a little risky, it's the reason why only players above level twenty are the only ones allowed to take the quest, and we should always stick near the NPC soldiers as they would be able to help us if we get into trouble. After all, the monsters that we'd encounter inside that dreadful forest are more powerful than their monster counterparts outside"
Emma explained to them under Michael's gaze of amazement.
"Wow, you're pretty well informed for someone who hasn't even taken a foot inside the Forest of Despair?"
"Cheh! Don't underestimate my high fame and friendship among the NPCs and soldiers"
Emma snorted as she flipped her hair back proudly.
'Talk about girl power'
Michael smiled, and at the same time relieved that Tina finally had real friends that she could rely on, even though these three best friends have devious minds of their own.
"Anyway, this might be a bit late, but welcome to the team Michael!"
"Thanks!"
"By the way.."
"What is it?"
"Well, Tina mentioned that you're an Assassin with superb skills, but we just didn't expect you to suddenly change into a different class. So what class is it? Tell us"
Emma approached Michael with twinkling eyes. As a cleric in charge of healing and buffs that supported the other teammates and at the same a secondary tank, it's her duty to know the class of anyone in her team.
There are already so many branches for the warrior class alone, not to mention the other branches of the other combat classes that specialize in different weapons and styles of combat. Like classes that are specialized heavily on defense and vitality.
In the case of Rick and Tina, they belonged to supportive classes with higher agility and attack power, but lesser in strength and vitality compared to the other melee classes.
Furthermore, Clerics are a class that specializes in Light-based magic and protective spells. They utilize their skills by empowering their allies or dealing immobilizing attacks against their opponents, including a skill called Healing Totem that could heal allies and attack enemies within a five meter radius. All thanks to their exclusive Faith stat.
Michael smiled and said.
"I'm a Demon Hunter"
*****
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