West felt his sword clash against the stunned wasp, just as it was starting to regain control of its movements. He felt the creature give as his sword pierced through the creature as the blow cleaved the creature in two. The wriggling mess of insect parts landed on the ground, smoldering from Brielle's magma blast. West stood, sword still drawn in the clearing, the slight spatter of insect blood staining his armour. This was his first fight, the first time he had put his life on the line. His heart was racing and his hands had begun to tremble again. The body of the beast began to crack and shattered in the same way the boy had before. West watched in a strange state of awe. This had been the singular most dangerous moment of West's life and he had enjoyed it. It was still the games that he had always loved, but now there was a new rush gained from killing monsters, like never before.

"You okay?" He panted, looking over to Brielle. He scanned her health bar, nodded and sheathed his sword "good. Come on, there are more where that comes from." He started moving before she had a chance to answer, moving swiftly towards the exit of the forest. As he walked, he scanned some of his stats. The wasp had given some experience, but not much. It was going to take more than that, a lot more. And, to top things off, this game was vicious. The zone had been marked as difficult, but not so dangerous that West would have expected a one shot kill on a new player. He was going to have to more cautious than he had first believed.

It didn't take long for the two of them to make it out of the forest without so much as a scratch on them when they did West turned to the girl.
"I'm going east from here." He loaded up his map and pointed out the plains he intended to level in to her. He turned to walk away but paused for a second, sighing and turning back. "If you wanted to, we could party up. It's be safer for a while." The words left his mouth before he really knew what he was saying, this was most uncharacteristic of him. He chalked it up to the fear of death, the lingering thought that the next creature he fought could be the last thing he ever did. However, the only thing he really knew was that he would feel safer with the Brielle joining him. It was going to be a long journey to the final boss and it would be easier with someone else helping him.