New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

The rest of their trip through the mountain range was close to uneventful, with only the occasional groups of monsters wandering through their path.

The party stuck to the road, so there were fewer monsters present. It would have been a whole other story if they had wandered off the path.

When Gulnur and his group explored this zone, they had been deeper into the mountains and often had to hide from the larger predators in the area. Wild zones like these always contained their fair share of zone bosses.

The trek through the mountains took the better part of their day, but they made it through. Once they were out of that zone, they took another break, taking turns to log out and do what they needed to.

The ones that had it easy were the players with pods. All they had to do was hook up more IV bags to the pod and attend to basic needs.

The night was starting to fall, and the party discussed whether to keep going or camp the night out. Of course, the two players without pods would be better off logging out for the night if they did.

But the four others with pods could establish a night watch and proceed with it. But they went for another method instead.

"I don't think we should penalize them for not having pods. I vote we establish three watch shifts, and the ones not on a watch can log out and have some proper sleep while the two players patrol the area." Phoenix stated.

"This way, everyone gets to have actual rest, and maybe some Exp from wandering monsters. Who's in favour?" she asked, raising her hand.

Astaroth, who had been the one to say the helmet users should log off for the night, was reticent. It wasn't about unfairness for him.

It was about trying to ensure they didn't wear the helmets for too long at a time. He still remembered the incidents that happened early on in the game, and would prefer his friends not to become part of this statistic.

He eventually raised his hand when it became almost unanimous. Phoenix smiled at him, and he wryly smiled back.

They decided on the watch order and pairs through vote again, making sure to leave one of their three strongest players connected at all times.

Violette was a little discomfited when she was assigned a watch with Gulnur, but the latter was almost ecstatic about it. She still wasn't quite familiar with these people and was slow to open up.

Gulnur, on the other hand, was happy he got to know her more. Making new friends in this game had been his greatest experience in New Eden.

They assigned the first watch to Astaroth and I'die, the second watch to Phoenix and Athena, and the third watch to Gulnur and Violette.

I'die was a little uncomfortable at first, to be separated from Athena, but he quickly adjusted. He knew Astaroth since the tournament, and was slowly getting accustomed to him.

They talked about small things during their turn, Astaroth trying to make the lad feel more at ease. I'die talked about his home, his family, and how he had to almost beg his parents to get a copy of the game.

Astaroth listened to him, feeling a dash of melancholy. He then explained how he had to do the same things with his parents when 'ToB' had just become popular.

"How did your parents react when you told them about New Eden?" I'die had asked.

"Unfortunately, I didn't get to tell them yet," Astaroth replied, looking at the sky for a few seconds.

"But I'm sure they are happy for me, wherever they are now," he added with a soft smile.

I'die looked at him, head cocked, for a second, and then understood the underlying meaning. He immediately bowed at a ninety-degree angle, his face flush with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry! That was so inconsiderate of me. I did not know--" I'die started apologizing.

"Not so loud," Astaroth chuckled as he cut him off.

"I'm so sorry!" I'die whispered loudly.

"Don't worry about it, I'die. It's not like I talk about it much. So it isn't your fault," Astaroth said, putting a hand on the elf's shoulder.

It took the young man a while to go back to small talk after that, as he was being careful not to step on another metaphorical landmine. Astaroth repeatedly told him it was fine, but I'die still felt bad about it.

During their three hours of patrol, the duo met only small fry monsters, barely worth the time to kill them. They did so anyway, since they were tasked with making sure no monster got to their camp.

The two of them together made quick work of any monster that wandered too close to their encampment, not even breaking a sweat while they did. The night would be quite relaxing if it went on like this.

When it came time to switch watch parties, Astaroth messaged Phoenix, and I'die messaged Athena. Both women came back online only seconds apart, their traits relaxed and seemingly well-rested.

After giving a quick rundown of the area to both women, I'die and Astaroth logged out to get some rest. Phoenix and Athena took over the patrol route, with the former heading into the trees, to get a better vantage point.

Their patrol was quite silent, as both women elected to keep the talking to a minimum. But it wasn't awkward by any measure.

Phoenix was a regular to night patrol on games and knew that talking less meant hunting more. As for Athena, she almost acted like a military in this situation.

If one wasn't looking for her, she would never be found in this dark forest, jumping among the treetops. The only reason Phoenix didn't lose track of her was that she could see her pin on the mini-map.

The pair hunted down a few more monsters, as their silence didn't scare away most of them. This would put the two previous ones on patrol to shame if they were there to see it.

These three hours of patrol also went without a hitch, with the only incident being minor. Athena thought she had heard some clicking noises coming from further away, but they never found anything, so brushed it aside.

They wrote to the last watch group, appraised them of the situation, and logged back out.