Chapter 42  

“So where are we going?” Blade asked.:Good question: Sirena answered cheerfully. :We should go train or something.:“Okay,” Blade agreed. As the pair swam to the edge of town, he asked, “How long do you think they’re going to be?” referring to Fey and Requiem.Sirena smiled wickedly. :As long as it takes that idiot to learn, so probably a couple of hours.: She petted Ebony, whom she had convinced to morph out of arachnid shape.“Is it okay to leave them alone for that long?”:Yup. There’s a ninety-nine percent chance that nothing interesting will happen.: Sirena sounded rather disappointed in her friend’s lack of scandalous behaviour.“What about the one percent?”:That’s to account for the possibility that Requiem will do something extraordinary, or extraordinarily stupid. I’m leaning towards stupid.: Changing the subject, she continued, :So do you want to look for a hunting party or just train by ourselves?:“Whichever one’s easier, I guess.”Blade had no problems with working with strangers, and neither did Sirena. They quickly found a party that welcomed the addition of a warrior and a mage, setting off towards the territory of level 23 bladefins.Right before Sirena left Fey’s party to join the new one, she sent a message to the group:“Blade and I are joining a hunting party. Have fun, you two!” As farewells went, it was perfectly innocent and appropriate (except for the insidiously suggestive tone of the “have fun”; to be fair, only Fey detected it).Bladefins were fish whose name was perfectly suggestive: their dorsal, pectoral, and pelvic fins were hard, sharp, and metallic silver in colour. Small and agile, they travelled in schools of around fifty and were not safe to hunt unless one belonged to a large hunting party.Aquatic battle formations were different from their land-based counterparts; due to the three-dimensional nature of the milieu, a well-balanced party required more front-line fighters to defend players with high attack but lower defence. However, the principle was the same: tanks (meatshields) protected the more fragile players, who focused on destructive output.Blade and Sirena settled easily into their respective roles. Their party, which, other than Blade, consisted entirely of female merfolk, was reasonably skilled. It was not long before the fighting became predictable and Sirena started to get bored.Thankfully for everyone involved, Fey sent her a PM before she found a way to alleviate her boredom. Barely an hour into hunting:

<Fey: Where are you guys? We’ll join you.>