Realm of Myths and Legends

the deer gently rubbed up against the palm of her hand.

There was a dark, corrupted, and putrid energy lingering near the neck area of the deer.
That energy was cold and invasive as it seemed to penetrate into the very core of the deer.
A wounded was located at that spot and whatever caused it was extremely brutal in its methods.

Xiao Liang seemed to become dejected as it watched how friendly Reilei was being with the deer.

Originally, Reilei thought the deer was a male due to its towering antlers, however, it actually turned out to be a female deer! How did Reilei come to this conclusion? Well, it was more of an instinct than anything.
There was a certain look in the deer ’s eyes that she had experienced once before in her life.

There was also one other glaring clue.
It was well hidden, but once they deer moved closer, it was the first thing that grabbed her attention and caused her to relax her guard.
After all, if the deer meant her harm, it would have immediately attacked instead of waiting around.

Perched on the back of the deer was a small figure no bigger than the size of Xiao Liang.
At the moment, the little creature was fast asleep.
It was actually a young deer! Of course, it was many times smaller than a normal-sized young deer, but its appearance resembled that of the female deer.

The only major difference, other than its size, was that its antlers were not nearly as towering and there were no spheres of energy rotating at the tip of its antlers.

It looked peaceful and without a care in a world.
There was a faint glow around its body as the little creature seemed to be full of newly formed life energy.

When Reilei first saw the deer she thought that it was simply resting, but she was mistaken.
Once she hand made contact with the female deer, a small stream of information popped up on her interface.
It confirmed her original suspicions once she saw its name.

Name: Weakened Ayanelle, Doe of Nine Creations(???)
Level: ???
HP: ??? (???%)

Reilei was positive that ”doe ” was a term used when referring to a female deer.
But, what surprised her the most was that the deer actually had a name, Ayanelle.
It was the first time that she saw a wild creature who possessed an actual name.
What confused her, however, was the questions marks next to everything and what they meant.

Ayanelle closed her eyes for a brief moment as she rested her head on Reilei ’s palm.
One could tell that she was tired…
So very tired.
It looked as if all the life had been sapped out of her and the spheres of energy that were spinning above the points on her antlers were slowly becoming smaller and slowing down with each second that passed.

Reilei quietly observed Ayanelle and could not help but feel saddened.
She could feel the life of the creature slipping away from it and it seemed that all it wanted was a brief moment of tranquillity.

However, Ayanelle lifted its head up straight as one of the spheres of energy on its antlers drifted down towards the young deer on its back and encompassed it.
The process was incredibly gentle and delicate, as though she were afraid of waking the young deer from its slumber.

The young deer hovered into the air inside of the sphere as it made its way towards Reilei.
It stopped directly in front of her as a startled look found its way onto her face.
What was she supposed to do in a situation like this?

Ayanelle released a faint and weak bleat that almost sounded like a whistle of sorts.
It then made a small gesture with its head as if urging Reilei on.
The color spectrum in its eyes began to dim and many of the colors faded after the sphere appeared around the young deer.
The spheres of energy at the tip of Ayanelle ’s antlers were now down to the size of a marble.

Reilei felt herself becoming teary-eyed, but she held those tears back.
Why was something so sad in a place that was supposed to be about having fun? This was not something she expected to experience within RML.

Reilei gently took the sphere with the young deer within it into the palm of her hands so as to not disturb it.
The moment she did, a relieved and yet worried look appeared within Ayanelle ’s eyes.
It was obvious that she was worried about the young deer.

”You can leave it to me, I promise that I ’ll take good care of this little one. ” Reilei said in reassuringly.
Though she almost choked up on her words as she spoke.

That last hint of worry disappeared from Ayanelle ’s eyes as she heard Reilei ’s words.
Her eyes began to slowly close.

Swoosh!

Just as Ayanelle ’s eyes were about to close, the sound of an arrow soaring through the air could be heard.
The arrow pierced into the wound on Ayanelle ’s neck and caused the deer to cry in pain.

”I got it! ”

”Nice shot! Heh, looks like it ’s our lucky day! ”

”Something like that has got to drop a rare item.
We ’re going to be rich! ”

A group of six players was on their way to one of the main cities when they had caught sight of that deer by chance.

They immediately knew that it had to be some kind of rare creature.
After all, it was something they had never seen before and it looked much more incredible than the other creatures around this area! Not to mention, there was only one person next to it and it looked half-dead already.
This was their lucky day!

The arrow that was shot had come from one of the players that were a part of that party.

Reilei was shocked by the sudden arrow.
At first, her mind went blank as she still had a difficult time processing it.
However, as soon as she overheard them talking, she was brought back to reality and her shock was replaced with anger!

”What do you think you ’re doing?! ” Reilei yelled out.
She was always soft-spoken, calm, and polite to everyone she met, but for some reason, it was like another side of her that even she herself was unaware of had emerged at that moment.

Reilei ’s sudden outburst startled the six players, but they quickly shook it off after they saw her pathetic summon.
She could not harm a fly with that thing! She had to be a complete noob to pick something so weak and small.

”Heh, get lost noob before our good mood is spoiled! ” One of the players who seemed to be the leader of the group said mockingly.