Charles Patricius

An ancient, untold secret was passed silently down from one man to another ─ not through interaction, but through a series of conditions in life. Today, Yugi would be breaking an unspoken vow of silence on the matter. Why? Well, life had already taken a thousand leaps today; standards would be thrown out the window. When Miko asked, he answered with full, unadulterated confidence. "Easy. Fake it 'til you make it," he said simply. Yugi had long since reached a conclusion about that old phrase. "Technically speaking, if you fake it long enough, you'll even lie to yourself eventually. At that point, you've just successfully changed yourself into whatever you decided to be in the beginning. Simple strat."

As they wandered in pursuit of what Miko heard, Yugi kept his eyes open. There were flickers of light at the clearing's edge, sporadically spaced before the tree line. He saw them, but initially decided to ignore the matter... for a bit. That remained the case until they drew closer to the wooded area. At that point, it became clearer to him what those lights were. It was no form of bioluminescence. Instead, it looked more like... electricity. Before entering the forested area, he took an extra, long step closer to Miko. "Stop moving," he urged. Those sparks were coming from some form of creature: a small quadruped with crackling fur and likeness to a fox or some sort of feline. There were about three of them silently stalking as a group, until two slowly split apart to let one slowly approach in a more direct fashion. "Animals. Magic types. I don't think judo is going to help against what I'm seeing over there." Shortly after Yugi's speech, the lonely creature was just within range to be acknowledged by the System. As Players, both Yugi and Miko would be able to see a display over its head upon identification.

[TARGET IDENTIFIED]

Name: Static Prowler
Type: Beast
Rank: E+
Status: Hostile
Condition: Stable
Special Note: Generates minor electrical discharge through movement within its environment.

Miko would soon be receiving some of the oddest advice she'd ever be given. A girl would have told her to make little changes, do something and give herself a confidence boost. But no... she was receiving the advice of generations of men, as interpreted by the most legitimate genius she'd met in quite a while. And what did he have to say, she should... 'Fake it, until she made it...' this game with an extra bit of explanation as well. One which Miko heard and it made her brows gently furrow. "Uh-huh. I feel better hearing something like that... I'll box it," she mentioned. Why it made her feel better wasn't important, basically she now thought that men were a special kind of neurotic, but playing pretend until something potentially worked out wasn't the worst way to build yourself up.

Miko was walking heading towards the sounds she was hearing in search of a proper place for them to set up base. The twinkling lights in front of her, weren't exactly detailed to her. But she could hear something along with the sound of flowing water, that she hadn't quite separated enough yet to be sure of. It wouldn't be until the approached the forest and Yugi spoke that she'd stop, on a dime when he told her to. "Oh... that's what it was..." Miko commented, "I could hear it, in the background of the water, but it sounded like..." she paused because of the system identification which noted them as being 'Static Prowlers'. "Static, yep. Really detailed name choice, but if they give electric shocks... do we try something magical instead of physical?" she wondered. She knew they were moving around and had apparently decided to hunt the duo of teens as an afternoon snack. Oh well, that wasn't the worst thing, though these animals didn't look like anything they'd see in Japan on even on Earth for that matter, so perhaps this was a different planet, but 'Earth-like'? Well, that was something to set aside for a moment or two.

Static Prowlers, as named within the System, were seemingly on the hunt. Miko halted her movements just as Yugi spoke, claiming to have heard the creatures ─ or specifically the static discharge they produced. Yugi had to agree that the choice of names was quite... terrible. Ah, but he had a decent look at the one that was close enough to register. That thing wasn't an animal; it could have only been alien. Perhaps then, there was a reason for the awful name? "I'll give the name a pass. It's probably translated for our sake by the System," he said first and foremost. A keen eye remained on that lone creature, but Yugi's periphery never let go of the others. Small disturbances in the grass didn't align properly to the light breeze. Strangely... they didn't seem to be taking the form of arc he'd expect of an ambush predator. No, these creatures had much greater distance from their targets.

Miko wondered if they should try something magical as opposed to something physical. In that moment, Yugi scoffed and quirked a brow. "Oh yeah, let's try one of the spells we totally have access to. The fuck have you been hiding?" he chided. "There are three. Smart, but no more intelligent than normal ambush predators from what I can tell. The one we can identify has to be the scout... but the other two are really... far out. Seventy meters or so maybe?" he said with a bit of hesitation brought on by further thought. "Movement within its environment, huh? Maybe... Oh. Yeah I don't fucking like that. From that far out, they're going to hit us fast ─ really fast. We should probably, maybe... climb a tree. That won't be getting rid of it though, huh? If they're so clever, they'd just give up chasing until we're vulnerable again. They probably couldn't manage much inside the woods, but then why would they wait until we're almost in the woods? Something's dumb here, and I'm not sure what it is yet. . ."

Yugi was willing to give a pass to the naming of this creature, as it was likely alien and it's name was probably translated for them by the System. "Fair, translations are almost always terrible," she said knowingly. As a person who consumed media and games and a person who was a native Japanese person, she knew of the horrors of translations errors and what it did to the understanding of others. Ah but that had more important things to deal with, when questioning these creatures and their ability to deal with them, Yugi pointed out their lack of magic and wondered if she'd been hiding anything. "Well, I am not hiding anything. I was just thinking I could like scream and potentially disorient or stun them. Small animals don't usually like loud noises," she said having a pretty reasonable line of thought for her initial assumption and knowing she could add magic to her own voice.

But there was more information incoming. Yugi could see the other creatures and had observations to make about their hunting pattern and potential intelligence. As for his observations and the creatures movements Miko could think of a couple reasons to avoid chasing something too far. "Well, they are kind small, maybe they don't want to eat and run home?" she mentioned as a person who liked her snacks in her personal space as well, this made the most sense. "If they are going to get a running start, we'd have to know we could outrun them or go for the trees ourselves... hiding is an option but that doesn't really neutralize that threat and just wandering into the woods might also expose us to something else..." she thought about the directions on what to do. She didn't have a plan but there were too many potential issues to sort though... all the while she had to assume their predators were trying to close in on them.

According to Miko, she wasn't hiding any sort of secret spell. She could, however, use her ability to scream with a bit of applied mana to disorient the creatures as one would normal animals. Yugi considered the validity of that, but ultimately decided he didn't like the idea. "I wouldn't bank on that being a good plan in the long-run. Besides the fact that they have to spend their whole lives hearing McDonald's Sprite in their ear, we don't know what that sort of noise might attract. Too risky," he argued.

His disagreement aside, Yugi was shuffling through his own mind to find a functional plan. There were too many unknowns in a potentially dangerous situation for his liking. Regardless, they had to do something. There was also something absolutely stupid ─ probably related to Yugi missing a factor. When Miko mentioned the creatures not eating and running home, he came to a realization. "Oh... a fucking den," he said. The beasts were likely hunting closer to home, finding whatever strays wandered out of the forest. "Territorial? Probably territorial. Or rather... something closer to scavengers? They might tire themselves out with all that movement ─ you know, like how cats are sensitive to static... but not like that. Anyway, plan! Try climbing the closest, tallest tree... but do it badly. Don't go any higher than the trunk," he said. At that point, Yugi seemed equal parts excited and nervous, laughing as if to calm himself down by doing so. "We're just gonna... casually trick the monster predators trying to kill us. No big deal, right? Climb the tree. . ." As Yugi spoke, the apparent scout of the group was getting closer. The more it moved, the more speed it gained. The more speed it gained while moving through mana-rich grass, the more electricity could be seen building in its dark fur. Yugi's theory about their functionality was technically on the right track, but survival was the important thing here and now.

Miko was thinking, but in a different way from most, it would seem that the most. The more experienced gamer that was Yugi found a bit of a problem with her original thought process. The idea that the creatures hearing static all the time, might need something much louder and that being loud might attract the attention of something else. "I'd considered half of that, not the noise cancelling headphones bit though," she said, logging that plan away for... emergency use. Still, now that she knew exactly what the creatures sounded like, she was locking in on them from her current position, she could hear them moving around and it was a rather distressing thing to notice. She'd do this in silence while Yugi thought about their options, while giving her observations as she understood them because information helped in planning.

Oh, but her very random world view did give some insight. She could count herself as helpful for giving information that expanded Yugi's thought processes. Ah, but it wasn't just knowledge of the potential den that was helpful, it was figuring out the animal behavioral pattern which would lead to an idea. Fake tree climbing, to lure in the predators for whatever they were going to do. Judging by the explanation she imagined something like running a cheetah into a wall... or rather a very specific kind of cartoon trope. "Uh-huh... we're going with the Roadrunner method? That's the plan?" she gave her understanding but would still begin moving towards the nearest tallest three in front line. It wasn't terribly difficult to fake not being able to climb a tree. All she had to do was ignore her better jumping capabilities and not try and get hand holds. She was small enough that reaching for the first branch without jumping was more difficult than it could have been. And she'd put enough effort into trying to reach to seem like it was a legitimate struggle, which it definitely would have been. "I didn't know cartoon and video game logic were going to become so important in my life..." she mumbled with a light bit of frustration.

After hearing his plan for dealing with the 'Static Prowlers' as the System called them, Miko fully acknowledged the cartoonish nature of Yugi's idea. Indeed, it was a silly asspull of a thought... but it was also the best he could come up with before they were assaulted, possibly to death. "Damn right it's the plan. You know what the best part about Wile E. Coyote was?" he asked. Yugi left that question hanging in the air while he faced outward, back-to-back with Miko. The scout Prowler was stalking him down while Miko feigned a struggle against the tree.

In a matter of moments, Yugi would be finishing his clause. First came the acknowledgement of that scout, which seemed to be switching its approach. It would probably be letting them try to climb the tree, only to run them out of it if they managed to climb too soon. Yugi waited, and the scout charged. "Hold," he warned. The scout accumulated speed in a way that could have been much faster. Once it covered a quarter of the distance, he'd found the right time. "The best part about that damn coyote was..." Mid-sentence, Yugi spun around to face Miko during her 'climbing' attempt. His hand would be carrying the momentum of that turn directly into her ass cheek for a mighty slap ─ one to signal her movement up the tree. At the moment of impact, his sentence reached its conclusion. "It was that he's such a stupid fucking animal!" he announced. If Miko made it up the tree, he'd be following only a moment later. He had to watch the scout so intently, it burned his eyes to focus. Only with the right timing, only when the darting Prowler had enough speed, could he confidently jump to grab the branch. Alas, that wasn't enough. The sprinting Prowler leapt as Yugi swung himself up onto the branch, barely clearing its path. He even caught some of the electricity arcing off the beast, shocking his body enough that he was left with both legs curled mid-swing. One could call it an overall failure to fully flip onto the branch. "Gyaaah─!" he vocalized loudly, alerting the ambushers from afar as their scout collided with another tree trunk some twenty meters away. They'd be on the move soon enough ─ though only after vibrating their bodies in place from great distance to build a stronger charge.

Miko's understanding of the cartoonish nature of this plan, didn't stop Yugi from playing it up a bit harder. No, he showed nothing in the fact of her words but pure bravado and confidence. "I didn't think I'd get to see it in action so early..." Miko murmured so softly as she pretended to struggle with that branch. Did she know what was good about Wile E. Coyote? "No idea... but I'll bite," Miko muttered quietly. Still, there was something she could do, whenever the time was right, but she was warned to hold. Since Yugi was the one with his eyes on things, she figured that there was a reason for that, and she'd follow directions without reason. As such she'd stay until the right time.

And when would the right time come? With a slap on the ass and continued quipping about the nature of the cartoon coyote. "Yiiiip♪~" she chirped as she reached up and grabbed that branch. Doing so a little hop took place which allowed her to immediately tak ehold of the branch. She'd pull herself up but not without flashing the lad below her the full view of her thong covered bottom in an epic up-skirt. Beyond this apparently, the coyote in question was a stupid animal and the prowler was proving itself to be much the same... as it came straight towards her. Yugi cleared the animal as well but apparently took a bit of a nasty shock from it as his body curled. She winced moving over a bit to let him have a more space she'd look at him. "Definitely stupid!~ That looks like it hurt, though..." Miko wondered as she reached out to place a hand against him. She understood a bit about how magic worked in her voice, most 'healer' class people came with a base ability to heal, perhaps she had one too? She supposed now was among the better times to figure it out. If the other animals were still coming they likely wouldn't be jumping upt again.

A slap to Miko's ass may not have been the smartest choice of signal, but it was definitely Yugi's favorite idea. That nice little 'yip' and the feeling of her cheek squishing against his hand ─ those things made it completely worthwhile. Better still was the up-skirt he got to witness when she made it up the tree. Sadly, he couldn't be happy for too long. Electrocution was his fate, and it wasn't pleasant at all. "Pretty sure that said MINOR, Fuckface!" he complained to the System administrator. Nevertheless, he had to work himself up.

A hand upon his body was enough to get Yugi moving again, strained though it was. He imagined Miko would suffer minor electrocution as a result of touching him so soon, but Yugi's primary focus was flipping onto the branch at long last. Something had to be done about the other two Prowlers. "God fucking damnit! People use tasers as pranks? WHY?!" he griped. “For humans, yes… a ‘minor’ threat is apparently sufficient to disrupt motor control, scramble nerves, and nearly drop one of them unconscious. Fascinating. Their biology is astonishingly fragile—yet they keep standing back up. I suppose that’s why the System uses relative, not absolute, classifications.” Such was the administrator's observation at the time, while Yugi realized that 'minor' shock had done over a quarter of his HP in damage. He huffed through the act of sitting upon the branch, but there was no time to waste. "Shop," he demanded of the System. "Dumb bitch is gonna be back, I bet. We've got about 700 gold left. I hate having to do this, but we've got no starter weapons. I'm getting this shit sword for a hundred gold," he explained while moving to acquire an unranked Common Iron Shortsword that offered a measly +4 to his Attack rating and had no affixes. Well, it was better than nothing in his book. "So... plan part 2: kill at least one of them. I'm guessing we can get loot for some real money, or maybe even a solid weapon to use. Hear that, Brainface? A decent weapon drop would be fucking nice!"

That slap to Miko's ass definitely wasn't necessary, but it also wasn't something she'd discourage. She was oddly fond of that stinging sensation which was left over from the contact. Ah, but that wasn't the main issue, no, the pain that Yugi experienced had him commenting on the nature of the descriptions given to the creatures. Miko would be finding out by association soon enough, as no natural magic appeared for her through that contact, though she did manage to shock herself. "Ooow, what the fuck is that!" she exclaimed pulling back her fingers and moving them individually. She was suddenly massaging her own hand and more than a little upset as her status screen. "Minor! It took 10 percent of my HP from touching you, who the fuck decided that counted as minor!" she exclaimed. Her fingers were still al little numb but that wasn't the worst thing that could happen.

Miko was more than willing to fall in line with a full rant. Why did people use tasers for pranks when they felt like that? "I don't know they're fucking insane. Joy buzzers, tasers and anything else that shocks me is off the list!" she said firmly. That did not feel good and she wasn't for it at all. "Speaking of issues, Brainface, what kind of game balancing is classing as a mage without the ability to use magic. I don't even get a Healing Hands or something?" she complained as well. She hated games that made everything so grind intensive that it was impossible to start your build without a struggle of massive proportions. Humans came with imagination not magic. "I think I am going to pick up a couple of these crap spells items. Maybe I can get something useful and at least get our HP back up to normal before the fight," Miko claimed. "Shop!" she too opened the shop to see a few small items. All three were relatively cheap but nowhere near as useful as they could be. "Well, at least they are accessories, And nothing too annoying but these spells are crap, even for starter stuff," Miko claimed huffily... but her huffiness would soon be replaced by a System Notification.

[SYSTEM NOTICE]

Inventory Update Detected.
Three (3) Low-Tier Arcane Implements have been registered:

Beginner’s Mana Thread
Fragmented Focus Stone
Old Spellcloth Ribbon

A synergistic resonance has been identified.

The System offers the following option:

[OPTION: ARCANE RECLAMATION]

Sacrifice Items:

Beginner’s Mana Thread
Fragmented Focus Stone
Old Spellcloth Ribbon

Result:
Convert each item into its inherent Skill Rune.

Acquired Runes:

Rune: Glow Orb (from Mana Thread)
Rune: Minor Mend (from Focus Stone)
Rune: Elemental Drip (Breeze / Ember / Water, randomized per cast — from the Spellcloth Ribbon)

Warning:
This process is irreversible. Items lost cannot be restored.

Proceed with Arcane Reclamation?
→ YES / NO