Arriving at the outskirts of the forest outside town, Apollo suddenly felt a shift in the atmosphere. No, it was not something physical. It felt more like an instinct. He realized he no longer felt as laid back as he was back in the town; he was on edge and ready for action. He could feel adrenaline in his veins, and his mind racing. [i]"Is the game designed to make you feel like this in a combat zone?"[/i] He wondered.

Before he forgot, he opened up the Party function he had spotted beforehand, and sent an invitation to Elizea. "I think we share the quest completion if we're in the same party. This should help us cut back on time and effort for collecting the nuts." Apollo explained. "I suggest we split up, but not too far from each other. That way we'll have a higher chance of finding squirrels, while at the same time be able to quickly regroup if they prove too much of a challenge. Shout if you need any help." He continued. Apollo wasn't sure how dangerous squirrels could possibly get, but seeing as they were both complete newbies, there was a chance the starter monsters could beat them (no matter how small and cute they may be). It was better safe than sorry.

After walking a little distance away, Apollo started looking around the trees for the "monsters". At the moment, he was unsure if the squirrels were taking refuge in the trees, or scurrying about on the ground. He assumed that they were on ground-level, because then it would have added fake difficulty for melee-users, but you could never know. Eventually, he managed to find one of the little critters dashing on the grass. Apollo punched his gauntlet-covered palm in preparation for the fight. [i]"Let's see how the melee handles..."[/i] He thought.

He rushed at his target, with his right fist in the air, intending to smash the squirrel into the ground. The creature noticed it early and dodged the attack. Apollo's fist collided with the ground, causing dirt to kick up, but doing no damage. Apollo lunged and attempted another hit, but was too slow and allowed the squirrel to evade once again. [i]"Damn, this little guy's fast!"[/i] He thought. At that moment, the squirrel launched a counter-attack, pouncing on Apollo's face and biting down with its buck-teeth. "Oww!" Apollo exclaimed, swatting it away. It did a small amount of damage from making contact with the squirrel. Feeling his left cheek, he noticed that a cut was now left there. Looking at his HUD, he saw a small part of his HP bar removed. [i]"I don't believe this... I'm losing to a squirrel?!"[/I] He realized, shocked at his own performance. 

Deciding that melee wasn't working out for him, he decided to switch over to the Cannon in his Quickswap Slot.

The Gauntlets were put away in his inventory, and he held the gun with both arms. It was a little heavy, and about 2/3 the size of Apollo. It was shaped like a regular shoulder-mounted cannon with a trigger handle and a 2nd grip meant for steadying aim, but had ironsights on the left side (presumably for the use of the gunner). It seemed like a regular cannon with a chamber and a barrel. No special qualities worth noting. The squirrel, seeing the new weapon, ran from tree to tree, taking cover wherever it could. Attempting to line up the sights while backing away from the squirrel, Apollo had difficulty finding an opening. The squirrel changed tactics and started running straight at him, and pounced into the air. Thinking fast, he squeezed the trigger, and felt the cannon recoil as sparks erupted, and the shell hit the squirrel, sending it flying backwards. [i]"That definitely should have done damage!"[/i] He thought with a grin. He noted that there appeared to be a short timer that appeared on his weapon icon when he fired. [i]"It seems to have a short cooldown. I suppose that means I can't rapid-fire this weapon. Makes sense, I doubt I'd be able to keep it steady if I fired multiple sots..."[/i].

The squirrel recovered from the attack and made another rush, this time doing serpentine maneuvers to avoid the cannon fire. Apollo already knew what to do; he aimed from left to right (and vice versa) as well, constantly putting the crosshairs of the sights ahead of the moving squirrel and fired, once again causing the weapon to lurch upwards. He managed to graze the squirrel with the small explosion, causing the critter to reel backwards and fall flat on the ground. While it was immobile, Apollo swiftly took aim at the center of his target, and fired. With a direct hit, the squirrel ragdoll-ed backwards, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. In the spot where it died, there were 2 Nuts.

Approaching the items, Apollo put the cannon aside and grabbed the items. They disappeared in his hands, and a notification appeared on his HUD:

[center][i][b]Nuts Collected: 2/10[/b][/i][/center]

He assumed that Elizea was seeing the same thing. Happy to have made a small amount of progress, he put the cannon back on his shoulders, and proceeded to hunt more game. He decided to test out the Gloves after eliminating a couple more squirrels.