Rise & Grind: A LitRPG Adventure (Fate & Freedom Online Book 2) by DM Gilmore

Author:DM Gilmore [Gilmore, DM]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2022-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

The Brightwoods were in stark contrast to Leywood Forest. While the Leywood Forest looked like an amalgamation of every fantasy woods you’ve ever seen in media, the Brightwoods was shrouded in near-perpetual darkness by the trees that towered overhead. Branches covered in enormous leaves created a canopy so dense, no light could bleed through, even in the middle of the day.

Despite the omnipresent shadows, the Brightwoods wasn’t a dark place. Every plant and fungi glowed with bioluminescence, giving the zone a neon rave appearance. Veins of greenish light pulsed in the tree trunks. Bushes of purple and blue glowed.

We stepped out of the back entrance of our dungeon and waded into the luminescent flora, while glowing animals bounded through the brush. A neon-orange squirrel scurried up a nearby tree and angrily chucked a pulsing acorn our way.

All this place needs is some dubstep and we’ve got a real rave going on here.

As soon as we were in the zone proper, I opened my map to get a sense of our options. There were three towns in the Brightwoods we could choose from. Two of them—Glowshire and Fort Dusk—were little more than small settlements akin to Southmoor. They weren’t anything impressive by any stretch of the imagination and were largely just quest towns while players got used to an area.

In the middle of the zone was the city of Beorford. It wasn’t anywhere on the same scale as Stromhold, the human capital city, but was at least somewhat larger than Goldberg. A town that size would have shops and places we could trade.

It was really just a matter of getting in without drawing too much negative attention to ourselves.

I glanced nervously over my shoulder at my party. Bark was looking around the forest in awe of all the lights and colors. Quiver was focused dead ahead, her sharp eyes scanning the woods for any sign of danger. Beans the lynx was seated happily at Quiver’s feet, licking his paws and wiping his face.

Last but not least, Crush was already being a problem. He had his axes out and jumped at every little noise. If we didn’t handle this carefully, he was liable to cave in the skull of an NPC, and then it would be too late. Our reputation would tank and that would be it.

Judging from the look Bark and Quiver gave me as I met their gazes, they knew it too.

“Crush, put the axes away,” I said, trying to keep calm.

“But what if we get attacked?” he whined, his grip tightening on his weapons. “You remember what happened last time we went into a town, right?”

“We won’t get attacked if you don’t attack anyone first,” I pointed out. “With the other towns, they were all vassal settlements of Stromhold. We already had a really bad reputation with Stromhold, so they were all hostile to us. None of these towns are associated with the capital, though. So long as we don’t attack anyone, we should be able to walk around without pulling aggro.

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