4. Light Hunting
"So, what do we do now?"
Ye-na's perky question sounded kinda like something a hardcore gamer with 1,000 hours under their belt might say, but her intentions were totally different. She was genuinely clueless. Since these ladies weren't super familiar with games, it'd be good to ease them in with some light monster hunting.
"Let's head out of the village first and try some casual hunting."
"Ooh, yay~ That sounds funnn~"
Ye-na looked seriously pumped. I walked over to Ji-young and chatted her up.
"This is your first time in a VR game, right, Jjeong-i? How's it feel?"
"At first I was like, why are we doing this? But now that I'm in here, it seems like it'll be fun. And it's even better 'cause I'm with you, honey. But isn't this game basically like role-playing?"
Spot on. RPG stands for role-playing game—literally acting out roles.
"Yeah, exactly. You're a priest, so you heal people's health, buff 'em up, remove debuffs, that kinda thing."
"I get health, but buff? Debuff? I kinda know what they mean..."
"Buff's just a catch-all for good effects. Like boosting damage on hits or reducing incoming damage—stuff like that."
"Ah, got it. Good stuff, basically."
"Yep, yep. Debuff's the opposite—bad stuff. Paralysis so you can't move, poison that builds up, bleeding that drains health over time, attack power drops, speed reductions... tons of varieties."
"And I can remove those?"
"Yep, you can~ That's your role. Check your skill window..."
Ji-young had only ever played puzzle games, so I started from the basics, explaining step by step. Chatting away like that, we quickly made it out of the Beginner Village.
"Whoa~ Honey, the atmosphere here's amazing~"
I'd heard that in FPS games like Battlegrounds, guys go in eyes blazing for enemies, but girls get wowed by the scenery. Ji-young was the same. Vast grasslands filling our view. Clear blue skies. Fluffy white clouds. A gentle breeze... This landscape hitting us as soon as we stepped out. I'd taken it for granted before, but seeing Ji-young marvel at it made me feel a little moved too. No chances to appreciate beautiful nature in our drab city life. Thanks to her, I figured I'd enjoy the game even more. Ye-na, admiring the view with the same delighted gasp as Ji-young, suddenly shouted,
"Huh? A bunny just hopped by over there~! Eeee, so cuuuute~~"
Ye-na, you're cuter. Wait, no, that's not the point. Clutching her chest with both hands and squealing made her already prominent boobs stand out even more, her nipples making a strong case for attention. My brain was fogging up. Sigh... If she were some random NPC, I'd ogle away guilt-free, but she's my buddy's wife we've hung out with tons. Driving me nuts.
Anyway, classic Beginner Village setup—rabbits as the starter mob. Some games twist it with monster bunnies, but Fantasy World sticks to the basics: fluffy, adorable bunnies.
"Alright, ladies~ Listen up. We're gonna hunt bunnies, and everyone has a role. Jun-sik's the tank, so he'll be up front. Ye-na and I'm DPS, so attack from behind him. Jjeong-i, you stay way back and manage our health, focusing on Jun-sik. He'll take the most damage in fights."
"Got it~ Sounds fun, honey~"
"Right, unnie? Finally get to try some magic~ Honey, get up front already."
"Sigh... Tank life..."
We didn't need to go this hardcore on village bunnies, of course. But with newbie ladies, nailing party synergy from the start would make dungeons and raids smoother later.
"Hmm... Fireball? Looks good."
Ye-na was picking skills from her window. Jun-sik popped Mana Armor and taunted, drawing cute bunnies hopping at him with squeaks. Ji-young didn't have much to do yet.
As an archer, I had a quiver with 30 arrows on my back. Normal attacks used one. I had two skills:
Double Shot (Active)
Mana Cost: 10 / Cooldown: 5 sec
Consumes 2 arrows to deal 3x damage.
Arrow Bomb (Active)
Mana Cost: 30 / Cooldown: 5 sec
Consumes 5 arrows to deal 8x damage. Arrows explode for 40% splash damage to nearby foes.
Once you burn through 30 arrows with basics and skills, you reload like a quiver refill—takes time. Archers burst hard while arrows last but sustain less.
"Here goes~ Fireball~"
After casting, Ye-na lobbed a fireball into the bunny cluster in front of Jun-sik.
-BOOM!!!
Bunnies vanished in flashes of light instantly. Ye-na and Ji-young jumped in shock.
"Wha...? I'm this strong? Sorry, bunnies..."
"Whoa~ Ye-na, you're awesome~!"
"Really? Hehe... This is mage life."
Mages trade casting time for high damage. Quick-cast low-damage spells exist, but Fireball's a solid early-game nuke.
Party meshing okay? Time for a simple dungeon. "Jun-sik, map shows an instance up ahead. Wanna check it?"
"Yeah. Four of us leveling off bunnies would be slow anyway."
Instance dungeons are one-shot random spawns. Bunnies gave peanuts EXP soloable, so off to one. Short walk to a rock pile with a small cave. Up close, a message popped:
Alert: Enter Dummy's Den? (Recommended Lv. 2)
[Yes] / [No]
Jun-sik up front glanced at us and hit Yes. Surroundings darkened—we were in a small cave.
Clear Dummy's Den
📍 Progress: 0 / 200 grubs
"Whoa, we're in a cave instantly. Kinda dark, but so cool."
Ji-young marveled. Ye-na scanned her skills.
"Unnie, I'll light it up. Hmm... Skill names all this childish? Light~"
Ye-na shouted "Light," and a white orb floated up, bobbing around.
"Ahahahaha, oppa-deul, games always like this? Fireball? It's just a fireball. Light's just light. In Korean it'd be 'fireball!' and chuck a flaming orb, yell 'light!' and it sparkles... Ahahahaha, this is hilarious."
Long-time fantasy gamer like me, but Ye-na had me speechless. Nitpick it that way, yeah, it sounds lame.
"Just accept it. That's how it is."
"Ahahaha, accept my fireball!"
"Cut it out."
Then Jun-sik up front said,
"Something's coming. Everyone ready."
From the dark cave depths, things crawled. Up close: huge grubs size of sea turtles, wriggling with tons of legs, scooting faster than expected.
"Eeeeeek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Moooooom!!!!!!"
Aargh, my ears! Not just Ye-na—Ji-young too, shrieking with pure disgust.
"Ewwwiiiiiii!!!! No wayyyy!!!! Honeyyyy, get me outta heeeere!!!"
Jun-sik tanking upfront, poor guy—had to clear for him. Double Shot and Arrow Bomb took out about 10 grubs.
Clear Dummy's Den
📍 Progress: 12 / 200 grubs
"Waaah unnieeee, I haaaate it hereeee."
"Ye-na, me too... Honey, anywhere else? Hate this place."
Ladies looked done. No pushing further.
"Jun-sik, this ain't working. Bail."
"Yeah. Not even that gross, though."
We'd seen worse, so no biggie. But VR newbies—big shock for them.
Hit exit. Abandoned the party quest unfinished. Felt bad—probably good rewards for full clear—but couldn't drag screaming ladies. Plenty other instances.
Jun-sik to Ye-na: "Instances are random till you enter—no knowing what's inside."
"Still better than that."
Ye-na, grubs are mid-tier tame. Dungeons got worse below. Didn't say it.
Or should I scare her now? Say all dungeons like this, maybe she quits?
Then Jun-sik and I could happy-happy smash again...
But outside, Ye-na stretched arms skyward under blue grasslands and beauty, grinning bright, her prominent chest... nipples still asserting presence. Turned me dumb again.
Smash? Not the priority. Ye-na's hot as hell. Wanna keep staring? At her like this? My wife Ji-young's the same—tight clothes, no bra. Jun-sik thinking same? Head spins every time I see Ye-na as a woman.
Complicated thoughts, we walked to a new instance. Common one, rec lv. 3, but whatever. Jun-sik and I could clear lv. 10 easy.
Defeat the Goblin CaveGoblin Boss
Boss raid this time. Goblin boss—no sweat. High-tier goblins tricky-smart, but beginner ones? Meh.
Too easy. Kinda wanna die.