RTU

Chapter 9 - Walking Again

The menu disappeared. He hovered back slowly, and there it came. A slight vibrating tingle started in his toes. It scared the heck out of him, because for a long time, he had lost most of the feelings from the waist down. It felt like the circulation had returned to an arm or leg that had fallen asleep, but it came a lot faster. All Dee could do was watch as he wiggled his big toe and then lifted his ankle rocking his feet in a circular motion.

"You feel it? You feel it Dee?" exclaimed Bu. He walked up and stood beside him holding out both his arms as if ready to catch someone jumping out of a burning building. "Slowly man. Take it slowly."

Dee placed his hands on both the arm rests. With his feet, he slipped them down from the foot rest and placed them firmly on the floor. Leaning forward, he pushed himself up from the seat.

Nothing could explain the emotions that he felt in his heart once again standing on his own. If only his parents were here to see it. Tears filled his eyes, but the joy remained spread across his face.

Dee cried out at the top of his lungs, "I'm standing!"

"Oh yes you are. Take a step," Bu motioned him over.

Dee took two steps and then fell forward. He hadn't walked in years, and this would need getting used to again. Bu caught and held him by the elbow to stabilize him. One, two.......One, two.......One, two...One, two..One two, one, two, one two. Off Dee went a little wobbly and unbalanced still. He ran through the village breathing heavily waving at the children as they chased after him like a mad man. Bu followed behind. The air hitting his face; that so familiar feeling as he closed his eyes to embrace it. He ran out of the village and into the orchard.

"Slow down Dee!" yelled Bu.

Dee slipped on a rotten apple, and that sent him flying into a pile of leaves. He rolled on his back and gazed at the sky. Life had meaning again. He kicked his legs in the air. They were thin and fragile not like how they used to be when he played football.

"Boy, you sure can run," said Bu breathlessly. "Where you learn to run like that?"

Dee smirked, "College football."

"That explains a lot," Bu reached for an apple in the tree and tossed it to Dee.

He caught it with one hand. "Tastes good!"

That whole afternoon they grind the area. Fighting level 1-5 crows, wolves and monsters. They developed a strategic plan to successfully take down monsters in the area. Bu would be the "tank" meaning that he would be the first to engage with monsters and keep their attention focused on him, while Dee being quick on his feet would be the one who mainly did the damages. He is what they call a DPSer, one who does damage per second. Every beast that was killed dropped items, and afterwards, they would also return to dust as they once came. From the low level beasts and monsters of this area, they had acquired basic leather armor and wooden weapons. It was something better than their white starter suits.

"Phew, I'm beat Bu. Look at that, level four!" A pop up blinked in his view. It gave him options as to where to apply his talent points. Agility, Strength, Mind, Spirit, Endurance, Power and Will each have their own perks to give what is needed to perform special moves. Abilities are unlocked at certain levels. The first is at level five. Players are able to choose from a variety of special moves. The moves then can be geared towards classes, but not necessarily. Classes are only placed there to give players an idea of what a class is. They can build their own class by mixing and matching the different special abilities unlocked to them. Of course, it would be smart to have similar abilities to obtain a powerful setup.

Rubbing his stomach, Dee exhaled out, "Let's go grab some food in the village."

"Yes sir. I believe there was some sort of tavern there when we went to visit the church, Added Bu.

Bu went to scavenge the items dropped by the tree Pa-Zongs they had defeated earlier before. These monsters hid behind the trees in the orchard and jumped out at passing players. They fought many of these level three monsters. Bu picked up some met-coins and a wooden club and most of the time just junk.

"Hello fellas!" called a voice. Another player along with two others approached them. Dee set focus on them and could see that they were level eights.

"Just heading back to the village," said Dee with a smile. Bu dropped everything and stood up.

They had to be careful. Not only were they fighting against RTU generated monsters, but players as well. Something every MMO player knew too well. They came a little closer. Dee could tell that they had decent gear and weapons definitely better than what they were wearing. Even one more member in a group like theirs is beneficial in a PVP (Player vs Player) situation.

"How's this area? We came from over that hill over there," he pointed to the west and a small hill could be seen beyond the rows of apple trees.

"Just starting out you know. Bout to get some grub. Maybe catch up with you guys later?" said Bu with a stern look on his face.

"Yeah sure. We'll show ourselves around." The three players smirked and nodded their heads.

As they were leaving, a Pa-Zong popped out from behind a tree. The third player in the back swung his axe like a baseball bat and with one swipe, down it went. They laughed at the puny monster and continued to walk away.

"Let's go Bu. We are only level four so far. I don't want any trouble with those guys," cautioned Dee as they headed back into the village.

They stopped in the small tavern. It was small enough for six tables at most with a chair on each side. A bartender stood behind the counter wiping down glass cups humming to a tune. Liquor bottles lined the back wall of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Crazy enough they were of all different colors as well. Crazy colors. The bartender peered over seeing that they had guests.

"Hello there fellas," greeted the bartender. Dee and Bu waved their hands. The swinging door next to the counter pushed out, and a lady with a white apron came walking in with a pitcher of water and two cups. Almost as if right on que, she walked over and poured a glass of water for each of them.

Patiently she said, "Hi, I'm Wendy. What can I get for you?"

Bu looked at Dee surprised at the natural actions and hospitality of RTU generated characters. He tilted his head with respect. "What's on the menu?"

She explained, "If you focus here." She held up a finger that pointed to an engraved lotus design about the size of a quarter in the middle of her neck. "You should see extra menus and options of your liking."

They both brought up the menu and browsed the list of foods. It also produced a small image view of what the dish looked like before they ordered.

"Oh yeah, let me get some Pig Apple Ribs," Bu said licking his lips.

"I will take the corn rabbit soup," added Dee smiling at Bu. They were going to eat hardy alright, and their stomachs growled in hunger.

"That will be 45 met-coins," calculated Wendy waiting for payment.

Bu's jaw dropped. "Uh, 45? Dee, how much you got?"

"I only collected 4," mumbled Dee.

Both their heads hung with embarrassment. They only had ten met-coins all together. Dee popped the menu back up and re-adjusted their order.

"Sorry Wendy, we will be taking a loaf of cinnamon apple bread and butter," Dee said blushing unable to make eye contact with her.

"Right on, will be right back," smiled Wendy.

They watched as she turned around with pitcher in hand and went back through the swinging door.

Bu let out a long sigh, "So much for them ribs." He pulled out his met-coins and dropped them on the table.