Chapter 3 - Barely any superlatives

Where do I go?

That's a question I didn't ask myself before.

But after "finishing" the tutorial, I read that after the tutorial, you were supposed to do quests in the village.

But I let the village being destroyed, so I had no way of doing them.

That means that there must be another way to catch up to the quests. Or I'd have to PVP so early with no stats to speak off.

-If you keep slacking off I'm really going to throw you out!

My first reflex was to look behind me, but he wasn't there! I felt an oppressive feeling so turned again, but this time on the left! He wasn't here too! That means… He was behind me. In slow motion, my head was starting to turn, when my exposed ass… was kicked!

My eyes were flashing while I was thinking… How come that guy is so quick??? IS HE ACTUALLY A FUCKING NINJA???

This is then I understood the meaning of being a ninja. It wasn't all about being discreet to kill people, you need to act like that in your everyday life too!

-Oh! That's the second time you're spacing out today! Wake up! Go to work!

This time I was ready, my sharp senses prepared… and….

I AVOIDED IT! YE...OUCH!

So quick! His foot was closely followed by a punch, that literally evaporated as if by magic every single trace of air in my lungs, making me cough for a good minute, almost spitting my lungs in passing.

Is this even legal?

I mean, it isn't technically legal in the first place for me to not have a guardian and work, I guess, so I shouldn't be surprised an illegal workplace does illegal things.

-Last warning! If you don't work now, I'll kill you...

My eyes were widening as I was readying myself to work without interruption until the end of my life...

-...in-game!

I sighed with relief, not thinking a moment that he really knew my in-game id, and that my online life would become hell every time I would be slacking off in the future…

[...]

A player was entering a guildhall.

That guildhall was huge, and was... The hall of the biggest guild of the game!

This guild's core playerbase consisted of many alpha and beta players, who are basically speedrunning leveling up at this point.

[...]

I was at the exit of the newbie village.

And, what was I doing, you'll ask?

Well, killing newbies to level up.

I finally found a way to change my fate and this was the first duel I did.

I gave up on killing higher leveled players before even trying, and instead here I am, searching for people willing to accept my challenge in a safe zone. A fight in a safe zone must be consensual. It means only the participating players can impact it, and beyond stopping interruptions, it saves you from being leeched, or worse, killed and looted right after winning. Once the challenge is done, you are still in a safe zone, and can't be attacked against your will.

The newbie before me didn't seem very strong, but I knew that even though he looked like a little twig, his class was Berserker.

Berserker was a class that got stronger the less life they had.

On my side, I was a ninja, a class similar to the assassin class, with high bursts of damages and speed for it. Compared to the assassin class, it sacrifices some of its attacking abilities for more stealth and movement options.

This unique setup meant I only had one shot to kill him. If I didn't do enough damage, I definitely would have done enough damages for his attack to instant kill me. That was due to the unique peculiarity of Berserkers. The less health they had, the harder it was to chip away at their health.

Like any challenge, we were teleported to a random fighting arena. I was thankful for the use of such a feature, as the crowded safe areas clearly weren't able to handle having thousands of players battle it out at any point in time.

This one was a forest. That was good. What was good with forests was that I could hide, and so do a surprise attack.

The fighting areas are often large, and meant to give classes that need it the time to hide or the ability to keep their distance.

The round started, but unlike my enemy who certainly rushed directly to the center, I was standing still, not moving. Any normal ninja would have already hidden in the trees, in expectation but I was concentrated on something else.

I found a way to change the system personality, it was just in the settings, I selected neutral. No need to say please anymore! It was set on "Russian Mistress"... The worse with specific settings is that it worsens with time.

-Status!

-Enemy status!

╔════════════════════╗

║ Name: ImperialShadow

║ Level: 1

║ HP: 0.1/0.1

║ MP: 0.02/0.02

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Stats

║ Intelligence: 19

║ Comprehension: 10

║ Will: 10

║ Luck: 9

║ Wisdom: 1.0001

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Inventory

║ Starter Gift Pack x1

║ Random Gift Pack x1

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Genome (15 points)

║ Sheep Transformation

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Skills (0 points)

║ Thick Skin (2)

╚════════════════════╝

I set the parameters so that the stats would be in descending order, winning a few wisdom points.

╔════════════════════╗

║ Name: ILoveBerserk

║ Level: 1

║ HP: 10/10

║ MP: 0/0

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Stats

║ Strengh: 20

║ Will: 15

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Inventory

║ Sword of Doom

║ Starter Gift Pack x1

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Genome (1 point)

║ 2 second wolf

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Skills (10 points)

║ Berserk Aura (1)

╚════════════════════╝

As expected… He really was a newbie. But his stats and skills might be problems in the future. As for his genome… 2 second wolf... His duration in the bed was just low? That was it?

But from what I saw of the naming sense of the system, there might be more to it. It might actually be useful to me. But well, I opened my challenge close to the starting village, so it's likely he never did PVP fights in this game before. And from his username, it would be a pretty good guess to say he wasn't used to this type of game. So I decided to use his belief that the sword of doom was strong against him. Names don't mean anything in RPG, only stats matter! Don't be fooled by appearances! (Well maybe except bikinis which definitely look better and have stats matching that fact)

The system was saying I was right, no?

As a ninja, I had some kind of 6th sense. That was informing me that the other player should have reached my spawn soon.

Well, it wasn't really a 6th sense, more like that it was pretty evident, but well, let me lie to myself. We all pretended we were naturally talented at something at some point in life.

Anyway, I rushed to the closest tree to wait there in ambush.

When the other player came, he was truly running and... continued? Doesn't he know the distance between the spawns? I didn't bother with that, and without any pity, readied myself to stab him with a random branch I picked.

I jumped!

I stabbed him!

I was on his back!

I had the surprise advantage!

But the damages I did were quite painful! 9! He had 10 HP!

He was stunned because of the blow, so I tried to rush to the trees again, but he seemed to choose this moment to use the skill I thought that noob wouldn't use!

Berserk aura!

I already knew about that kind of skill, but wasn't thinking he would use it so efficiently!

In fact, at the exact moment, he was stunned and his life bar plummeted, he used the skill! Typical noobs would have used it later, for they wouldn't have had the ability to react so fast in such a way.

An idea struck me! He traded blood! That's at that moment I knew that even though it didn't look like that, he saw me on the tree!

What would happen next only depended on both of our reaction speeds and decision-making!

He used something I later understood was the '2 seconds wolf' genome skill, and for 2 seconds had a strong speed buff! His movements felt as quick as lightning!

His hand was already gripping his sword, ready to slice me in pieces, taking a curved trajectory!

I quickly placed my poor stick before my chest, and used the time the sword took to cut the stick to use my ship... hmm, sheep transformation! The sword passed above my head as I used a crude but effective move! I bit!

With the damage reduction, it normally wouldn't be enough, but I had the surprise advantage.

1 damage!

The berserker fell.

-Heyyyy! And you give me nothing except a shitty reference??? For such a beautiful fight!

-I see you have your priorities set straight, already getting to building the gacha addiction, huh...

[...]

It went faster than expected, I already had 5 newbies killed.

Except for the first one, they were all ordinary, so it seemed like the first truly was particular.

-Difficulty, huh...

The difficulty is basically the level of what kind of quests or PVP fights you need to take to level up. It matches your level at first, but above a certain level, it starts increasing several times per level. Well, I supposed I was going to need to fight level 2 people from now on.

-So I have to do one of these to level up, eh? That's… FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE!

Oh, wait, level 3 players can be ambushed out of the safe zone! Let's assassinate!

That guy's avatar looked quite badass… He was a swordsman… Wait, no, not a swordsman... his class… A unique class? He already had a fucking unique class at the start of the game!?! If his class was a unique class, then that meant I was Bai… He seemed to have battled quite frequently outside of the game... I only had one shot, tomorrow he would likely be able to advance to level 4! But at the same time if he died… he has to grind even more! I have a nice plan now!

While I was thinking that, I was already hiding at a spot close to him.

He was in plains so there wasn't any tree to hide in. Trees are great, because not only do they allow you to hide, they also allow you to gain bonus damages from height.

But in the absence of trees, I hid in high herbs. After the last fight, I looted the corpse of my opponent and got his sword before we were teleported back. It's a bug I guess, but a nice bug. Don't fix it soon, devs!

Swords are something incredible... When they pierce, they hurt. Wherever they touch the body, they hurt. Incredible death machines...

But please!!!! Give me a dagger!!!!

Well, I was anyway going to kill him... Be it a sword or a dagger, both would kill him!

He was walking, and I patiently waited.

When he was passing just before me, I threw myself at him, my sword pointing at him in a powerful stab!

He seemed to not have noticed me! Well then, do not cry later when I kill you! My sword was 2 centimeters away from him!

He turned his back to me!

Hmm? That's borderline insane! You're giving me more bonus damages? Are you just blind that you would turn your back to an attacker?

Even though there was a huge difference between two levels, a deadly attack was still deadly!

But my attack didn't touch him, he took a few steps forward.

He plays weirdly, as if he was not in a VRMMO but in an old-school MMO, controlling his character with a keyboard and a mouse. Turning your back to the attack to go faster and escape out of its range is not something anyone would do when they are IN the body.

What a weird guy.

Anyway, he kept going forward, was he trying to escape? Oh no, you won't escape to me!

I saw him taking his sword and swinging it in the thin air in front of him.

Did I miss something? I was asking myself.

I heard a glass-breaking sound, and a few people around level three were behind what looks like a screen, now broken.

And this is then I realized I made a mistake.

That guy wasn't just ignoring me, he also didn't have the time to bother with me!

But even with that, did he think he could do everything he wants even with me around?

The party of five in front of him started a fight with him, and this is then I understood:

I was overwhelmed... That wasn't just a skill-level difference, that wasn't a simple reaction-speed difference too... That was pure character level difference!

There were rumors the reaction time of low-level players was lowered, but it seemed to be true. After all, how fast are they moving that it's so hard to follow?

The damages they were doing were in the hundreds...

As for me... When I succeeded to land a hit on him, my weapon broke, and I did… zero damage on his armor, it was just too solid.

In the end, I died from a missed blow.

I didn't even feel like replying to the system, in spectator view, I watched him fighting, seeking enlightenment.

I didn't bother listening to the system.

That man was fighting like a madman. How can a swordsman fight like that? This was just... madness! Was there such a strange path in swordsmanship? His way of playing was closer to a Berserker than from a Swordsman... This is way too unrealistic! He didn't protect himself at all, he just... attacked. The blows somehow seemed to avoid him, the more shocking part being that he was way stronger than his FIVE opponents... Somersaults, large clear-cut arcs with his sword... He seemed like a god of death right out of some novels.

I looked as he stepped on the sword of an enemy to cut his throat! Less than five seconds after my death, his first opponent died. Then it was a killing spree. He took the sword of his dead opponent, and used it to parry all the arrows of an archer, closing in from another swordsman! He was parrying arrows and fighting both at the same time! A hand for each action! An almost impossible multitasking ability? Was this not a demonstration of skill?

He killed the swordsman, and managed to surf on a Megumin-level explosion with just two swords! Even though one broke in the process, it was still a feat! He then threw the broken sword to the magician, killing him while he was low on mp. Were left a witch and an archer. The witch stepped on her broom and started throwing bombs at him. He strangely seemed to avoid in a Z motion every bomb but one.

Wait wait, that's a body you're using, not an avatar. You're not supposed to be able to move your body in the same way that your keyboard controls an avatar. Are you even human?

Even that last bomb wasn't an error! He used his sword like a bat, and by an impossible delicate flick of his sword, managed to send the bomb to the archer without triggering any kind of early explosion!

That kind of way of playing is just... unimaginably hardcore! If I had to choose, I would rather play Dark Souls Dive than do that.

He then jumped tens of meters and grabbed the broom of the witch before throwing her off the broom by shaking it.

While watching that. I felt frustrated. I saw so many occasions to kill him that I couldn't grab because of the level difference!

Hmm, Sharp Eye… That must be because of that skill that I saw so many flaws and openings at the end of the fight that I didn't see earlier.

That guy is frustrating but also strangely nice, he didn't loot anyone.

That's why the first thing I thought after seeing that was:

-That guy... He's so FUCKING SUPER GREAT!!!!!

╔════════════════════╗

║ Name: ImperialShadow

║ Level: 2

║ HP: 12/12

║ MP: 4/4

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Stats

║ Scheme: 21+10

║ Intelligence: 19+10

║ Comprehension: 10

║ Will: 10+10

║ Luck: 9

║ Wisdom: 1.0001+10

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Inventory

║ Starter Gift Pack x2

║ Random Gift Pack x1

║ Broken Sword x1

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Genome (14 points)

║ Sheep Transformation

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Skills (0 points)

║ Thick Skin (2)

║ Bite (1)

║ Sharp Eye(1,MAX)

╚════════════════════╝

╔═════════════════════════════════╗

║ Sharp Eye

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ We all love to steal from LoPH

║ Depending on your and your target level,

║ gain 0 to 100% of Comprehension of the target

║ Opens ergonomics windows around the flaws

║ and details about the spotted target when

║ saying "Flaws"

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Evolutions

║ None

╟━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╢

║ Cost: from nothing to dying, passing by headache

║ and fainting

║ Passive

╚═════════════════════════════════╝

Bai was a private joke, but I felt like keeping it.

You can basically remember Bai as the most shameless author that ever tread on this platform. A funny guy.

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