6 Explosive Leveling!

"Ever played other VRMMMOs games before?"

Chikinsupu asked Bob.

"I don't recall ever playing vee are eminem o's before. What are those?"

Bob replied while still staring at the horned rabbit that was in his sight. He was alert and he clenched his behind. It seems Bob has experienced a trauma.

Hearing Bob's reply, Chikinsupu laughed.

"Haha. Dude. For real? Stop pulling my leg." Chikinsupu now accepted Bob's silliness.

"Hahaha, why are we laughing?"

"Hahaha. Give me a moment."

Chikinsupu found Bob's roleplaying ridiculous but he learned to just enjoy the act. He soon finished collecting himself and looked at Bob's idiotic face.

"Pfft. Hahahaha"

"What's so funny?"

"Haha. Forgive me."

Chikinsupu stopped for a moment and once again collected himself. He will now continue what he was supposed to ask Bob.

"So, Bob. You've never played VRMMOs before?"

"I don't even know what those are."

"Hmm. At this point, I can no longer tell whether you're joking or not."

Chikinsupu looked at Bob with an inquisitive gaze. All he could find within Bob's visage was confusion without a hint of guilt for lying.

'He's telling the truth.'

Chikinsupu realized that Bob was not just any noob in Immersion online.

'He's a boomer, isn't he?'

"Then I'll explain to you how combat works in VRMMOs. First, virtual reality is just like real life."

Chikinsupu began explaining about the game mechanics. He was having a hard time dumbing down techinical terms so that idiots like Bob could understand.

In Immersion Online, you could move your avatar(character) according to your will but the speed and power of your actions are based on your stats. For example, a child playing with 10 STR could bring as much power as a trained martial artist with 10 STR.

However, there will always be a difference due to technique. The power distribution towards a target will always matter when it comes to hitboxes in an online game.

Hitting a leg does less damage than hitting the stomach or the head. The importance of technique made the game popular within Asia because of the skill cap.

But it does not mean to say that regular players do not stand a chance against trained players. That is where stat superiority comes in, where even technique could not overcome.

"So what I need you to do is observe. What do you think about the nature of your opponent?"

"You mean the horned rabbit?"

"Yes. I meant the horny rabbit."

Chikinsupu pointed towards another player that was brawling with a horned rabbit.

"What I need you to remember, is that you never show your back against an aggressive enemy."

'Because this one in particular with rape you.'

Bob took Chikinsupu's words to heart. He was learning for the first time in his life. What Chikinsupu didn't know was that his words today were what will drive Bob forward.

"Okay. I'm ready to fight!" Bob said with confidence.

"Good luck."

Bob walked towards a horned rabbit garnered its attention. He took a fighting stance with his sword and focused his gaze towards the rabbit.

'I won't lose again.'

He thought as his butt clenched. There was a phantom feeling that he just couldn't shake off.

"Hup!"

Bob moved forward with his sword. He was not trained with the sword but he somehow managed to do a proper lunge. A miracle.

'Ah. I forgot to tell him that he can't fight a Lvl 2 rabbit while being Lvl 1.' Chikinsupu slapped his forehead at this thought.

In other words. Bob got hit by a kick that was faster than he could move. The rabbit's kick was not fast but the limit of a level 1 body was trash. So despite seeing the attack, Bob could not evade and got kicked back.

Bob was thrown back and fell to the ground. This time, he was face up so the rabbit could not do its signature thrusts so it just continued assaulting Bob with its kicks.

'He's going to die. I should intervene.'

Chikinsupu jumped into battle and drove the rabbit away. The rabbit was dissatisfied because it felt it got blocked but it still moved away.

"Sorry, Bob. I forgot to tell you about the importance of levels. Especially when just starting the game."

Every level up gives a player 10 default points to distribute to their stats. For example, a level 50 player would have a default 500 stat point distribution, and a level 51 would have 510 stat points.

The rational difference between the two was negligible and the difference between skill and items would change the outcome if they were to fight.

The case is different for low-level players though. A level 1 player only has 5 as default stat points for each stat. That meant that their STR and AGI were at 5 by default.

Now imagine a level 2 player that put all of his points to STR, that would mean that the player now has 15 STR which is 300% more than the level 1's.

"It's alright. So how do you think I should level up for now?" Bob asked. He was not bothered by another loss.

"You should get some tutorial quests first, they give a good amount of experience and you could level up to 3 by the quests alone."

Chikinsupu explained about tutorial quests to Bob. And he got to thinking, about which NPCs within Bagel Village.

'Now that I think about it. This guy is way too similar to Bob the Barn Owner. Is this guy an NPC?'

Chikinsupu grew suspicious of Bob. He was certain that Bob was a player because he was autonomous and roamed around.

'His stupidity is questionnable too.'

Now, Chikinsupu could not tell whether or not Bob was a player or not. So he decided to confirm it and that is by-

"Hey, Bob! How about we party up?"

Inviting Bob to a party. It should not be possible to invite NPCs to your party. In cases that they join your party is when you are doing a quest that nobody wants. Escort quests.

"Party? Okay!" Bob replied with glee. He thought that they will attend a celebration. Common mistake.

*Chikinsupu invites you to a party.

*You have accepted the party invitation.

*Party has been created with Chikinsupu as the party leader.

'Oh? He's a player then?'

Chikinsupu cleared his suspicions. Bob was a player, not an NPC. But what he didn't know was that the two were not exclusive of each other.

"Is this it?" Bob disappointingly asked.

"Hmm? Yea, now we can share experience point when we kill monsters. But for now, you should do the beginner quests."

Chikinsupu busied himself with his menu.

*Chikinsupu sent you a friend request.

"Hmm? Friend request?" Bob said.

"Just accept it. I'm here to help you understand games, old man."

*You are now friends with Chikinsupu.

"Oh. We're friends now?"

"Yes. To tell you the truth, I have to go so I'll have to teach you next time." Chikinsupu explained.

"Oh? Where are you going?"

"I have afternoon classes so I'll see you later when I'm done with them. Just do the tutorials for now, and whatever you do, don't die while exploring by yourself."

Bob thought about Chikinsupu's statement. He remembered a prompt that he saw a while back.

"Oh. I won't die." He confidently said.

"Of course you won't. Just be careful, exploding hamsters are just beyond the outskirts so stay here until I log in, You got that?"

Bob nodded his head but he didn't take Chikinsupu's words seriously. Likewise, Chikinsupu also didn't take Bob's confidence about not dying seriously.

*Your friend Chikinsupu has logged off. (Connection Terminated.)

"Woah. He just disappeared!"

Bob was surprised that his friend suddenly vanished. He saw this phenomenon frequently but he never understood what that meant.

"Let's see. He said to go beyond the outskirts, right?"

And so, Bob the airhead did not follow his friend's advice. He avoided all of the Horned Rabbits that he saw and made his way towards beyond the outskirts.

Bang!

Bob could now hear explosions. The explosions were not of an exorbitant magnitude but they were loud enough to ring for dozens of meters.

"Wow. Are those the Exploding Hamsters Chikinsupu was talking about?"

Bang!

An explosion went off under Bob's feet. Bob was blown away and took a lot of damage from the explosion.

*Your HP value has reached 0.

*You are an Essential. You can't die.

*Your HP is set back to Minimum.

*You have gained a huge amount of experience from exterminating a monster 4 levels above your own.

*You have leveled up.

"Wowowowowowow" Bob was still rolling due to the force of the explosion.

Exploding hamsters are monsters that kill themselves upon contact with a player. They were intentionally put within a low-level area to force coordination between players.

Immersion Online, in essence, is a game for socializing. The developers thought that giving an early challenge would force players to properly party with each other and get through the perilous plains to reach the nearest city.

The hamsters were a good source of experience for new players but the huge amount of damage they cause exhausts a party's resources. Therefore, the hamsters were not a monster to continuously grind.

One reason is that there was a risk of dying, and dying causes the death penalty. Another reason is that when players are strong enough to withstand the explosions, they became high leveled enough that the exp was worth nothing.

Therefore, the hamsters were never farmed by anyone.

Bang!

*You have leveled up!

Until now.

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