Count did not Gate In expecting the field to actually fit his specifications, for while they were incredibly broad, they were also surprisingly narrow in ways he'd gotten to find out many, many times over over the course of his time in [The World]. It was easy to find a sunny field, if you were fine with a desert. It was easy to find a cloudless sky, if you liked starry nights. It was extremely simple to find a field that was not replete with any haunted imagery or ugly monsters, but the chances were, you were going to end up in a sunless dungeon anyway.

This time, he'd actually chanced on a field that fit his specifications almost perfectly. Certainly, the mountains had blocked a fair bit of the sunlight that would otherwise be streaming in, and it was kind of misty in that way that pointed to the supposed elevation... and yet, it was still not the kind of place Count would ever be able to go IRL.

Like hell anyone would take him on a trip up the mountains abroad. His eyesight wasn't bad - he was extremely lucky not to have experienced significant issues stemming from his condition, regarding his eyes specifically - but convincing people of that was not as easy as it probably should have been.

"Ah, I think I will enjoy it here," Count said to himself, reaching out to futilely touch the plum blossoms in the breeze. He knew he wouldn't feel anything in the game, no matter how expensive his VR headset was. He wasn't nearly susceptible enough to the placebo effect that it may have created for somebody else.

And still, he tested it out every time.

"... Well, I suppose it's time to see what the trees look like up close."

With that, Count set out towards his first destination - a plum tree nearby. Could he climb one? Would the game let him? It was time to find out.

A whistle escaped her lips after she had Gated In, watching he wind stir through the mountaintops through the plum blossoms as the sound of water rippled through the lands. "RNG, you do me proud once more," she chuckled to herself as she took in a deep breath, holding it before letting her breath go. If only she could really gain a good sense of smell of the land, it would have to be quite fragrant and fresh.

Still, her feet push her through the lands, tail swaying to and fro with every step as she laid her ears towards the ambience. This is certainly going into my favorites once I am done scouring it, she assured herself before something else broke through: the hollering of a voice. A player for sure! Following it led her up to an interesting sight: A man with a black skelly-arm waving to a bat as they climbed one of the plum trees, which only helped Resin by turning the gears in her head on how to make the scene even more chaotic...

Within a flash of light, Resin's humanoid form was taken over by that of a tiger, thanks to the [Ring of Instinct], but with her elf heritage, her ears certainly had much more of a point to them. Nevertheless, this did not stop her from going into a full sprint, using her claws to help dig into the side of the tree and pulled herself past the bat and to one of the thicker branches above where she would lay her body down and turn to look at the two now below her.

Could people be able to tell if a tiger was giving a cheeky smile?

"I understand. I am also an artist of a sort. While I come to these fields in large part to fulfill my desire to visit locales I'd never be able to properly appreciate IRL, I also draw inspiration from [The World]'s landscapes and monsters for my own work. I come from a family of potters - less shokunin, though my mother used to mass-produce teapots and the like, more sakka, an artisan who creates for the sake of creativity. This field will surely inspire me to create something good." Count nodded, mostly to himself, and then turned his gaze to Resin.

"Mm." He flicked one of his bat ears, turning to regard the vast valley laid out before him. "I would hate to see a place like this turn into a den of PKers... I see nothing wrong with peacefully 'hoarding' a map on its very own, choosing it as your unofficial 'favorite' and spending most of your time there. But I do find the idea of violently disposing of 'intruders' offensive."

Count gently hopped off the tree, landing on the ground with a flourish, his long cloak - not unlike the sort you'd find on a vampire - billowing in the breeze.

"Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Would that not mean, by its very definition, that something that is not perceived is, therefore, not actually beautiful, devaluing a sight unshared, a sound unheard?" He clutched at his cloak, hand over where his heart should've been if player models had internal organs programmed in.

"Ah---but I've digressed, for I have too  many thoughts on this particular topic," Count finally exhaled, allowing his arm to drop to his hip.  "I intend to explore the area and, perhaps, take the scenic route to the Temple at the top of that mountain in the distance. If you wish to follow me, I will require your Addresses so that I may invite you into my party."

Count would wait, and, should an exchange of Member Addresses occur, he'd promptly send out party invitations. Regardless of whether that transpired or not, though, he would continue onward.

In the near distance lay a suspiciously unfitting flower, dormant among the regular plant life.

It seemed the two others were willing to wax poetic to each other on the beauties of The World and whatever artistic fancies they posses. Alas, though, the one behind Resin could hardly draw beyond a stick figure and made little to no effort to improve on that end, making it seem she was an odd sheep in the bunch. Well, at least they both agreed on the field hoarders aspect. A bit of wiggle here and there, but the violent end was never an agreed thought. You'd make it seem like they'd be making Map Deeds at that point, she would think before jumping at the sight of the player address pinging in front of face, causing her lose balance, arms flailing as she worked her legs to not fall off the branch.

In the end, her body leaned too far back and her form began to fall. However, as she did, her bow began to glow before breaking away, reforming into a long pole with two cat paws at each end, one whose claws stuck out like energy blades to deem a triple-bladed scythe and used it to catch the branch and turned the fall into a flip off the branch, sighing with, "That could have been worse," once she as back on the ground, accepting the incoming address one one, sending hers to the other, before finally the party request. "Let's enjoy ourselves out there, Boss," she grinned with her fangs on full display as the scythe edges vanished once more, leading her Sly Cat as a polearm she flipped to rest on her shoulders, wrapped around her arms for when they moved.

Mr Skelly Man, known as Noblesse, seemed to have been the first to notice the corrosive place, quick to jump at it with his unusual traits. It was easy to tell that, just like her, he wasn't running a normal 'build'. No, he also was able to awaken a Special Class and he was quite adept at his tools. Still, monsters that size rarely acted on their own.

"Keres," Resin stated, her tone leaving the playful side as a Vengeful Spirit took form above her shoulder, "These two are not to be played with. Any other entities though are full game. Now, scout them out." With a mischievous chuckle from the ghost dog, it began to flow around, keeping an eye out for any other unusualties as Resin moved her scythe back into a readied stance.

"The Plum Blossom Cult's secret treasures are ours by right!" One of them called out, before launching himself directly at the poisoned Noblesse.

"The Plum Blossom Valley is ours by right!" Another one called out, launching himself at Resin.

"We, the Demon Cult, reign supreme!" A third one called out, rushing Count down.

The rest of them, too, uttered one-liners that sound fairly samey (actually, that one about the Plum Blossom Valley might've gotten repeated), and ran to attack the party, one after another.

Noblesse and Resin were being harassed by three martial artists each, and Count had to fend off only two - perhaps he was viewed as the least threatening, being the lowest-leveled of the three?



"That's rather impolite," Count curtly opined, barely managing to exit screenshot mode fast enough to Repel his attackers and follow that up with a Reaper's Dance, which, now that the two mobs were at mid-range, did quite a bit of damage.

Quite a bit, but not enough. These were humanoid enemies - far less flimsy than summoned bees, and with no elemental weaknesses, to boot.

Still, he Staggered them for long enough to take some distance. Whether his attack also caught the enemies surrounding Noblesse and Resin, he wasn't sure - he hadn't been paying attention. In fact, he still wasn't. Count had been taken slightly off-balance by being ripped out of screenshot nirvana, after all...