Arthur blinked, taking another look at the plateau around him. The mist still lingered around the edges, but the idea that this spot was perfectly safe hadn’t crossed his mind until now. Still, judging by what Greg said and how relaxed he and his group seemed, there had to be a dose of truth to it.

John went quiet too, rubbing his clean-shaven chin as if mulling over Greg’s words,

"A safe zone, huh?"

Greg nodded.

"Neat, isn’t it? Saves us the trouble of hiking back to the city every time we want to sell our loot. We just stash our stuff here and make one big trip later."

...

It didn’t take long before Greg and his group decided to log out for the day.

The middle-aged man seemed tired just standing there and chatting casually with Arthur and John, so after exchanging a few more words, he bade them both farewell and decided to go.

Soon, the four men’s bodies turned into motes of white light and vanished, as silence claimed the plateau once more.

For a moment, Arthur just stood there, staring into the mist ahead, before turning his gaze back to John.

John tilted his head to look at him, before he cracked his neck and said with a shrug,

"Well, guess it’s just us again, buddy."

Arthur nodded and said,

"Looks like it. So... back to hunting?"

"Back to hunting!" John answered with a grin.

After throwing one last glance at the bonfire behind them, the two of them didn’t linger.

They stepped forward and vanished from the empty plateau, as they continued to go up the mountain.

...

Truth be told, Arthur didn’t feel any tired even after walking for about an hour with John.

Still, after meeting with Greg’s group, the atmosphere in the mountain felt somewhat different. The knowledge that other players were scattered across these slopes alongside them lingered at the back of his mind.

It also made the game feel... more real, in a sense. So far, the only other players Arthur had seen, aside from John, were the ones scattered across the battlefield in front of the city gates, or those wandering the city and the plaza. But he hadn’t interacted with any of them.

Greg’s group was the first.

Soon those distracting thoughts slipped away as the mist enveloped him once more.

...

The next couple of hours passed almost uneventfully.

Luckily, Arthur and John didn’t meet a single Rock Serpent, and even the Iron Boars they chanced upon didn’t number more than a handful.

But with every subsequent fight, the difference became more and more noticeable.

Where before John had to take the lead while Arthur struck from the flank, now the two of them moved almost fluidly. John would step forward and force the boars back with his spear, while Arthur took advantage of those openings by firing a [Water Arrow] at them.

He was starting to use his [Goblin’s Fang] less and less, too... which, he wasn’t really sure if it was a good thing, but only one of the boars had managed to slip past John and forced him to resort to it.

Surprisingly, the fang was still effective as well, as long as he targeted the boars’ vital spots like the eyes or the inside of their mouth.

As for his [Water Arrow], Arthur was slowly getting the hang of it.

Admittedly, his accuracy wasn’t the best, and he missed the boars more than a couple of times as they charged, but those misses grew less frequent as they pressed on. He was starting to get a grasp of how the boars moved, and his arrows landed more naturally with each fight.

The only thing that felt slightly disappointing was his mana regeneration. After paying a bit more attention to his status window, Arthur realized he was only gaining back one mana per second.

At first glance, that didn’t seem too bad, but considering how every boar needed at least a couple of arrows to fall, it seemed his mana pool wasn’t as vast as he’d originally thought. Still... as long as he rested for a minute or so after every fight, there shouldn’t be any problems, he figured.

By the time the fifth boar crashed to the ground, Arthur and John had barely worked up a sweat.

[Iron Boar defeated. +26 EXP]

The familiar system notification flared in Arthur’s vision as John pulled his spear free from the monster’s eye, and for once, it wasn’t the only thing that was left behind.

As the boar’s body broke apart into drifting specks of light, what looked like a piece of grey metal appeared on the ground, immediately drawing both Arthur’s and John’s attention.

[Item: Iron Boar’s hide]

[Rarity: Common]

[Description: The unprocessed hide of an adult boar. It’s durable enough to block the strikes of the crudest swords and spears. Can be used as a supplementary material for weapon refinement.]

Arthur ran his fingers across the hide. It was cold and stiff to the touch, and it felt more like touching metal than a boar’s skin.

But before he could store it away, the crunch of boots suddenly rang out from behind him.

Both Arthur and John turned to the origin of the sound at once.

...They watched as two figures emerged from the mist, each of them carrying spears that looked identical to John’s.

The armor they wore looked scuffed and chipped in places, but Arthur recognized it at a glance, too. It was the same [Scrap-Leather Chestpiece] the Goblin Spear-Guards always wore.

And the moment the two men stepped into view, Arthur instantly caught the sharpness in their eyes.

"Well, would you look at that..."