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Valentine's eyes went wide as his menu popped up in his face with a ding! A quest message could be read on the front, it told him to go into the woods and find the children, that some may be dancing with shadow folk, and not to die... Well, shit. Though Valentine could only blame himself for this point, he had ventured into the woods, he had come upon this man and chosen to keep approaching knowing he could've avoided him with his skills, he had decided to click the button to accept the quest, and he had been the one who began walking forward toward the forest with his own two feet. [break][break]

Though first, he placed his rainbow shoes back in his inventory, choosing not to bring them with him for this inventory and switching into some comfy boots.

[break][break]He kept his Spear of Pure Misery at the ready, his anchor token on standby in case shit got too hairy, his heavy love shackles because they were fetch and useful, his fairy circlet because it was pretty and he felt it worked well with the whole running in the forest vibe, and last but not least his sleepytime blanket just in case things got a little nippy. [break][break]

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Valentine sighed, at his cringe more so than anything else, but still managed to lead the kid out of the woods, thanks to his astral form, unlike the child who had gotten lost, Valentine made quick travel through the forest, granted he knew why it was so easy for him, and it was because this forest had a clear effect on the mental state of those in it. He could feel it, on his physical body, the eyes, the sight. Something peered deep at him, but no matter how much he looked around with astral form he couldn't pinpoint it. [break][break]

It was only a matter of time before Valentine came upon two more children, both having been trapped in a cave by a common goblin that was made quick work off with a couple of stabs off his spear. Those poor traumatized children, but on the plus side; they were alive. They'd probably need a little therapy, but at least they could still draw the breath needed to go to it.[break][break]

Mentally patting himself on the back Valentine knew there were only three children left to find, and as he led the two out of the forest to the old man NPC, and made his way back into the forest. There was an eerie quite this time though and as he stopped his astral projection, Valentine came to find himself regretting it for a bit, but he knew if he didn't give himself a break, he'd exhaust himself. It was mentally taxing to keep his astral form out for too long after all. Though he kept his blanket around him, and his eyes peeled as he walked with spear in hand.[break][break]

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Valentine, crept through the woods, making sure to walk with a practiced step, hill to toe, short steady bursts of motion and long strides. He wasn't quite a master at it yet, but he did hear the difference in how it lowered his footsteps, and it was either once he astral projected and could see ahead. He waited until he could hear the sound... Was that, children?

[break][break]There did seem to be two more missing after all, though one could never be too certain in the forest such as this, at least not with how the world was now. Valentine knelt quietly in place and let his eyes lids close shut.[break][break]

He felt the familiar tingle of his astral body leaving his physical, and then he lifted his astral body up and took a step forward but his feet never touched the ground, instead, they hovered there, a few inches from the forest surface. He lifted his physical body up next and dusted the dirt off his pants with his free hand.

[break][break]Spear still clutched tightly within his grasp. He figured that maybe it was due to his high WIL stat or that he had just been exposed to so much from the start of his tutorial. He also thought it could be because he had just been through so much. After fighting at every turn in New York, scary monsters in enclosed buildings, being out in the open was an upside at least when he had some cover still around anyway. [break][break]

He moved his astral body faster than his physical, after all, he was trying to scout ahead while bringing the most minimal amount of danger to him, and then he heard children against, louder, it was joyous almost. Strange... After, letting his astral body advance further he saw them, as they come into view. Shadows in the shape of laughing children. So much for that break, he leaped away from them with his astral body and started moving toward one of the far trees to the right only to see that the children were moving with him. They could see him, they could see his astral form, which meant they were either ghosts themselves or something similar. [break][break]

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A flurry of multicolored pixels fluttered his vision in a split second, and his physical and astral bodies vanished in an aroura of whisp and colors. Then he was in the digital world as he dubbed it, his ability cross over having once again saved his bacon. He merged his physical and astral body together as he watched the shadow children searching around him. [break][break]

He could see them but they couldn't see him and that was just the way he preferred it. From what he could see while in this world was the presence of another undead creature a specter of sorts. Though that wasn't all deep behind it further in the woods were two children. [break][break]

He could see them, he could detect their location with ease which meant they all had a lower WIL start than him, creature included, though he wasn't sure if it was his skill or his ability that let him do such a thing so clearly, perhaps it was a combination of both. [break][break]

Valentine ran, toward the creature, and the creature simply floated around aimlessly, as the shadow children rushed back to their position around the larger creature to tattle perhaps. That's what Valentine wanted, he moved closer keeping in toe with them for the most part. Valentine could see the menu prompt of the creature's name and level pop up in front of him, Shaded Specture, Level 20. [break][break]

He let his astral form come back out then. Letting his physical body fall asleep. Then as he took position and aimed his spear Valentine saw what assumed was the one in command start to move, he was probably going to tell them to fan out but Valentine wouldn't give the creatures that chance. [break][break]

He willed his cross-over the ability to stop especially as he felt his ability nearing its end. He made sure to stand behind the specter as he launched his ice spear at the creature, and it dodged, turning invisible. It was trying to get away but what it didn't know was that thanks to his passive, Valentine could still sense it. He simply faked as if he couldn't he could tell the creature was moving, circling around him to be exact. Probably to make some sneak attack.[break][break]

Valentine ran toward the children letting one of the ice spears fly out at one of the shadowy children, the hit rang true and turned it into a shadowy mist before dissolving in black ice crystals. Then Valentine used his other ability, his rendering sphere as the shadowy children all leaped for him at once, he rolled back to dodge their pounce, and as they came crashing down he lifted his body up, and let his spear fly loose as a counterattack.

He only expected one of the shadow children to perish from his attack in his risky move to attack the specter that was now closing in on him, instead, he saw that the shadowy children had all been absorbed into his sphere, increasing its size which meant that they were probably just one of the abilities of the creature as opposed to individual monsters. However, that meant he couldn't give the damn thing time to summon more. He hefted his sphere and tossed it at the creature, the spear landed before his sphere did. Then after his sphere hit it and the creature was launched back spiraling through the air, before phasing through a nearby tree.

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He willed his symbiotic whip to attack, it launched out from near his shoulder smashing into the creature's chest causing it to toss and stumble back. Then he let the ice spear form around his physical one before shooting it off at the creature who easily dodged. His attack wasn't fast enough to hit it. The creature rushed toward him against Valentine and leaped back, moving faster in an attempt to dodge and counterattack.[break][break]

As he landed he found himself launching his spear at the creature which once again dodged, Valentine ran toward it, smashing his physical body into it as his symbiotic whip rang out, and it stumbled back again, this time from what he could see it was on its last leg, it slashed at him again. He missed and it was barely even worth its salt, as it could only be used now and then, but that was fine, it was nothing more than a faint so he could gain more distance. [break][break]

Valentine rolled back again trying to catch his breath, he was growing tired and this war of attrition would soon end in the creature's favor if he didn't do something soon, thankfully he could still sense it as his astral body was still out simply behind his physical imitating its movements. He then separated the two having both his astral form and physical form move in separate directions, before piercing the creature and spreading out his hand letting his spear once again become coated with ice before shooting it out at the creature. [break][break]

He felt it would dodge his attack again, but thankfully the secondary effects from his abilities kicked in just in time. The red lightning had lowered the strength of the creature so that it slashed his magic shield harmlessly, Valentine laughed, simply watching as its ragged and torn body blinked out of reality thanks to the after-effects of his rendering spear ability. Then appeared moments later as its body shook violently from the shock of it. Only to find its face come into contact with Valentine's spear.[break][break]

The creature went limp around its spear, and Valentine watched as it began to dissolve offering no resistance. He sighed, energy nearly spent, and moved over toward where the other two children were still left. He saw they were sleeping and offered a gentle nudge to wake them up. Though his eyes were closed as his astral body was still out making sure to watch his back, his skill still allowed him to speak, and his passive allowed him to see around his physical body. [break][break]

He spoke to the kids in a soft almost sleepy tone "My name is Val, I'm here to rescue me, I've killed the creature so you both can follow me, I'll lead you to safety, okay." Valentine said, his expression unchanging due to his sleeping. The kids nodded finding him strange but followed him nonetheless.[break][break]

After a long walk, and some snacks he had taken out of his inventory for himself and the children, Valentine succeeded and returned them to the orphanage. He asked for information about his sister and had heard that a girl matching her description had been spotted in the hub not too long ago, taking his mission reward after getting the mission completion notice he hurriedly made his way back to the hub![break][break]

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