What do you mean, I can't become stronger? [An Isekai]

Feel the Weapon sensation

They'd split off into groups of two. Silas and Jax had come with Mackenzie for her weaponry while Vivian and Pep went off to get a staff and whatever else a druid needed.

"I'm not sure I'll have the funds for anything though, I haven't played that long." She commented to the two guys accompanying her. "They have starter weapons." Silas commented, as if that alone would help her comprehend the finances involved.

"Won't my beginners dagger do for now? Until I can save up for a proper weapon?" She asked them as they walked, pulling out the weapon she mentioned.

"Sure but we want to be able to practice together as a team with all our skills and you can't really practice archery with that." Silas told her. "The sooner you get a bow, the better you'll be with it in the long run."

"It will be okay, trust us." Jax said and held open the door to the archery shop for the other two to walk inside.

They weren't in there long, Mackenzie felt overwhelmed looking and had the other two narrow down the choices for her that were within her budget. Not that there was many to choose from in the first place that she could afford. It came down to two, and she picked the smaller one since it seemed easier to work with.

After they got her weapon, they met back up with the others at the spot that had the introductory monster killing quest. "Do we really need to kill them?" She asked. "Can't we just like....I don't know, subjugate them or talk to them or something?"

Mackenzie looked at the gelatinous slime creatures in the field around them. Though they didn't have faces, something about their countenance reminded her of cats lazing about on a sunny day. Even their pathetic attacks were relatively cute, some of them softly rubbing up against their ankles to hinder the parties movements while other slimes were jumping at them in what might have been seen as an aggressive way except for how soft they were and the fact that they just kinda bounced and 'boing'd off their bodies like water balloons the size of dodgeballs. "They're too.... adorable for me to feel good about fighting them."

"Speak for yourself." Pep said, covered head to toe in slimes. He had been bare knuckle punching them and that somehow triggered them to pile up on him to slow his movements until he looked practically encased in jello.

"Why are you just punching at them anyway? Shouldn't you be using your staff and some spells at least?" Silas pointed out, he was sitting on top of a grassy hill nearby and lazily throwing small blades at slimes below with one hand, barely even looking at them as his cheek rested in his other hand. "All part of my plan, check this out!" Pep laughed and brandished his staff in hand and then muttered the spell he had recently learned.
Vines shot out from the staff and coiled around the individual lumps of the slimes, Pep spoke a second spell and the energy drained from the slimes causing them to dissolve. The energy visibly transfered through the vines into Pep's staff. Mackenzie was confused but Silas looked reasonably impressed. "Ohhh I see now what your plan was. That's not bad actually. How much mana can you store right now?"

Vivian and Jax looked over from where they were cuddling nearby. They had already completed the quest and didn't feel like running through it again, but thought they'd still hang out and cheer on the others for the sake of party bonding. At least that's what they said but it felt more like they were just flirting with each other and yelling out jokes at their new friends expenses. Occasionally there had been a few helpful tips, but they had kept mostly to themselves while the newer players figured things out for themselves.

"I'm not sure, I'll let you know once I hit the limit. There's not much mana in slimes to begin with." Pep said, repeating the process of aggravating the slimes by hand so they would pile up again on him.

"Are you capable of using any healing spells yet?" Vivian asked, standing up and making her way over. "I personally only have one in my arsenal so it'd be great if you had one too."

"Lemme check, I think I do." Pep took a moment to look while Vivian explained to Mackenzie, who was looking confused. "You see, healers can rarely heal themselves and the healer of a party is often an easy target. Spellcasters in general tend to be....squishy to balance out that they're powerful. And once you take out the designated healer of a party, without someone to heal them, it's just a matter of time before you can take out everyone else. That's why as spellcasters, normally we should be in the back for protection." Vivian shook her head at Pep. "Though I'm pretty sure Pep wants to remain at the front and keep his spellcasting a trump card of sorts. Either way it greatly benefits us if there's two in the party that can heal a bit even if we're not traditionally healers."

"Yep! I got one already!" Pep called out a confirmation.

"Perfect. Are you able to use it yet?" Vivian asked. "Sure, but there's nothing to test it on I think." Pep looked over their friend group, eyeing them for signs of health. "Is anyone's health low? Or I guess I could try healing one of the slimes that's almost defeated." There was a general consensus of negatives.

"I could take damage. Just knick me and heal it." Mackenzie offered. "No, we can't do that." Jax said and before she could ask why, Silas had thrown one of his blades into her foot on the ground. The thing sharp blade was protruding from the top of her foot and it was difficult for her to move it, but she felt no pain or discomfort. Glancing down at her health status, she discovered that she'd taken no damage. "Do you get it now?" Silas asked. "There's no PK'ing in this game. No harm can physically befall you from another player, no matter the area we're in or if we're in the same party or anything."

He walked down the hill he was on and came over to pull the blade out for her. "We're able to physically interact with each other and fight and hinder movements for fun, but we can't cause pain or damage to each other. It's too realistic and they figured it'd be too dangerous for this game."

"I see. That's reassuring in a way I guess." Mackenzie noted. "But what's the point of the health bar then?"

"We can lose health when fighting NPC'S and monsters etc." Jax explained.

"So, back to trying out this healing spell." Pep piped up and wiggled his fingers, making the others laugh. In the distance, a cloaked figure watched them from the branches of a tree on the edge of town, and frowned.