“One more level, and I cant party quest anymore!” Someone shouted making me wake up with a scream. I groaned shaking my head trying to get rid of the pain from bumping it on a metal pole when I sat up suddenly. I silently cursed the person who woke me up. I stood up, letting the morning sunshine on my arms and face.
“Hey, bet Lana’s awake” Lisa said over guild trying out the new guild feature of Scorpia.
“How do you know?” Amber asked
“No one can scream as loud as she can” Lisa laughed
“I bet I could prove you wrong” I mumbled, but I couldn’t help but laugh. I was used to rude awakenings in the morning. It was just something that came with Victoria Island. It was even hard a place to sleep. Suddenly, I remembered the person who shouted about the party quest.
“Hey, who can’t party quest anymore?” I asked as I started to walk down the path of Kerning with the afternoon sun beating on me making every step painful.
“Me” Kevin said miserably “I party quested so many times I find it strange not to be able to do so anymore. Have you ever party quested?”
“Nope, I’m way to scared to” I answered. I heard Kenneth laugh, but ignored him, I knew that he was someone who never party quested before too.
“Well, since this is my last level, wanna Party Quest with me?” Kevin asked. I suddenly stopped. An Assassin who was walking behind me crashed into me. He swore loudly and glared at me. I mumbled quietly ”sorry” as he walked off mumbling to himself. I was shocked, and scared. Of course I wanted to Party Quest! It was even an added bonus that one of my friends could help me through my first time. Yet another bonus that that one friend was a cleric. So why was I scared?
“Is it hard?” I asked with uncertainty. What if I died? What if I couldn’t do anything properly and the leader just kicked me out? I heard from people that the warrior is not the best job to party quest with. I ran behind a bunch of pipes beside the Party Quest area where I saw Kevin was talking to me over buddy along with what seemed like 5 million other people. I gulped.
“No” Kevin answered in a monotone voice
“Did someone say Party Quest?” Lissa, the warrior I met in Orbis and my only female warrior friend asked
“Yeah…I’m gonna do a Party Quest later, with Kevin” I said before I could stop myself. What did I get myself into? ME, Lana, The WARRIOR? I started gasping that then turned into choking. As I started my coughing fit, I saw Kevin turn and notice someone hiding from behind the pipes. He started to move towards me as I sunk lower trying to hide myself from the embarrassment.
“Hey Lana” Kevin smiled. He was leaning on the pipes with his head around the pipes looking at me cuddled in the corner. I felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment.
“Is it okay if I party quest with you guys?” Lissa asked. I agreed and asked Kevin if she could join since he didn’t have her on his buddy. Kevin agreed and asked Amber to join us who happily agreed.
“Hey, I get to party with a group of noobs!” Kevin said a warm smile on his face.
“It’s okay Kevin, we’ll cut you some slack since we’re so awesome. Not all noobs let you party with them you know” Lissa joked. Kevin laughed, his warm voice filling the air around him but not enough to fill the empty feeling in my stomach. I was even scared that Lissa had made that joke, what if she said it while I was in trouble? What if I was going to die? I turned to Amber and Lissa, seeing them act so confident made me seem really silly. Kevin did lots of Party Quests, he survived… why be such a noob? I held on my Fusion Mace tightly, hoping for something to calm me down, but not sure what.
“Lana? Are you okay?” Amber gave me a caring look, something that wanted me to break down and cry. But I didn’t want my other friends to think I was a little baby. I kept still, maybe a bit too still. I loosened up, was it too much? Why was I being so self-conscious?
“Yeah, course. Why wouldn’t I be?” I said trying not to sound like I was going die.
“You look a little pale, that’s all. I’m really nervous, are you?”
“Just a bit” I lied hoping she didn’t notice my face reddening. I looked around, everyone seemed so much stronger then I was. Everyone seemed so calm. I bit my lip and looked at the ground hoping that we couldn’t get into the Party Quest.
Suddenly, I felt a black light. I was falling. This seems like transporting with a town scroll I thought to myself. When I fell, I didn’t fall into the Kerning ground, or any other town. I fell on a log somewhere in a swamp. I looked around, trying to clear my head. Around me, my party members were too, standing up and taking in where we were. Where were we? We couldn’t be… no that cant be possible…can it?
A triumphant “YES” from Kevin confirmed my fears. I wondered what I had to do. Since I saw all my party members walk up to a girl with a staff. I followed. After they all talked to her, I walked up to her.
“Your question is the number on strength that a warrior needs to get its first job.” She said. My question? What question? I knew that answer to what she asked though, being a warrior.
I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Kevin behind me holding 5 coupons in his hand.
“Help?” He asked
“Please” I said letting the tears I had held on since I was added to the party and I was waiting in Kerning go in the Party Quest area. Kevin gave me a worried look.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He dropped the coupons letting them fall into the swamp trying to keep me steady as I fell to my knees. I wiped the tears away, trying to hide my bright red face.
“Nothing, I guess I was more scared then I thought” To my surprise Kevin didn’t turn away in disgust, or call me a hurtful name. He smiled understandingly, somehow making me feel even worse.
“It’s okay, we were all new once, right?” I looked away. Okay, so everyone was new once, no one broke down like I did. Even Amber and Lissa didn’t act like such a noob. Oh my god, Amber and Lissa!
“ I better get going, Amber and Lissa must be done by now.” I said standing up, acting like nothing had happened at all. Kevin looked uncertain but nodded. He explained that I needed the number of coupons that answered the question the girl with the staff asked. The coupons came from the Ligator. I nodded and got to work.

Moments later I was hanging on a rope, barely able to hold on being so tired. All my wounds have healed thanks to Kevin’s heal, but I was still tired. Nothing could change that. Lissa and Amber were on the ropes too, the expressions on their face was simple torture. I was even too tired to smile and jump with glee when the girl with the wand smiled and said one word “correct”. I let my arms fall loose as I fell on the soft moss on the branches of the Party Quest area, running up to my party to do the next challenge.
With a quick explaining from Kevin, I was standing beside a basket of kitties, I smiled at them but was soon yelled at to go on the next platform. I sighed and scrambled to do what was supposed to be done. When the girl with the wand nodded and said “correct” I ran toward the open gate for my next challenge, I sighed.
I raced my party members and ran to the top barrel. I sat there while Amber moved around franticly and Lissa moving every now and then. After a while the girl with the wand finally said “Correct” and we entered the last stage of the Party Quest.
I gasped at the Curse Eyes, that did more damage that I would have liked, and looked like a nightmare. I hit one, hardly making a single dent. Amber started shooting arrows franticly while Lissa help me with up-close attacks with her two-handed axe. Kevin used his Magic Claw skill when he wasn’t healing Lissa and me to prevent us from dying. After we finally killed all of them we went through the portal, saw the Jr. Nikkis and groaned. Kevin moved forward to the King Slime while Lissa, Amber, and I were stuck with the Jr. Nikkis. I sighed in both frustration and relief. Frustration because of having to kill the Jr. Nikkis, relief that I had made it that far. I walked up to the Jr. Nikki not expecting to be able to even hit it. To my surprise the Jr. Nikki was actually a lot slower then the ones that were wild. We got the job a lot faster then I expected.
I walked to the portal and to my surprise the platform that was safe from the King Slime was a lot smaller then I expected it to be. I fell down. I landed on grass, still confused. I looked up and was terrified at what I saw. The King Slime was jumping in my direction. I cursed myself for being so stupid. Suddenly the King Slime jumped and I was thrown in the air. When I fell I heard something crack. It was like I felt nothing, yet I felt everything. The air filled with an inappropriate word as I curled into a ball in pain.
Amber and Lissa screamed. I looked up. The King Slime was above of me. In a matter of seconds I would be a pancake. I tucked my head preparing for my death. I waited, but it never came. Seconds ticked away and I looked up. I saw a bright blast of blue that looked like claw marks. The King Slime disappeared into many of smaller slimes. A single pass fell into my broken hand. I saw Kevin panting some distance away from me and Amber and Lissa climbing down the rope as fast as they possibly could.
“We made it,” I thought. “ I made it through the entire Party Quest without dying” Shouldn’t I be proud? Nah, I was way to tired. I put my head down hardly surprised that Amber’s hand was there, trying not to have all my weight on my broken arm. Kevin was healing as if his life depended on it. Lissa was hovering over me, trying to help. I noticed everything was really quiet…maybe too quiet.
Then everything went black.

“Lana’s awake!” Someone shouted. Their voice echoed and seemed distant. The patter of running filled my head. I opened my eyes painfully. Everything was so blurry. I didn’t move. I felt someone’s hand on my face, moving my hair out of the way. Slowly everything came into focus. In front of me were Lissa, Amber, and Kevin.
“Yeah! She’s awake!” Lissa shouted giving me a hug.
“Where are we?” I mumbled, still not thinking. I looked about, blue horny and green mushrooms seemed to be everywhere. I stood up slowly. “We’re in bonus?” I asked in amazement.
I turned to my friend. They stood smiling. A smile broke up on my face. “ I made it! I made it through an entire Party Quest!”
“Wanna go another round? We could rush” Kevin offered. A party quest again? Sure why, not, I did it before, I could do it again. I smiled and ran up to the girl with a wand.

I was falling again. Down, down, down. I fell on a swampy land. Ligatures were above of me. This time it wasn’t Kevin that shouted, I jumped up.

“YES!”