Terror

'I got Title...? Damn... I wasn't expecting this, but it's supposed to be cool, isn't it?' Zayne inwardly muttered as an excited smile appeared on his face.

The old man continued talking for a while until it gradually turned from a dialogue to a monologue as though Zayne was no longer there.

"Young man, by the looks of things, you've lost practically everything you had, right?" The old man stared at Zayne with a concerned look.

"Yeah... Something like that..." Zayne nodded slightly as he decided to play along.

"Okay, in that case, I'll help you out. I'm not very rich, but if you do my simple task, I'll reward you handsomely." The old man was serious as this was important to him.

"Sure. What needs to be done?" Zayne asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing complicated. Unfortunately, I'm very busy right now and have to stay in the village, so I'd like you to go to the cemetery behind the village where my wife is buried." The old man said quietly as he found it hard to talk about it.

The old man sighed, opened his bag, and pulled out a box of matches with a thick red candle.

"Here, take this." The old man held out his hand with a benevolent smile spread across his face.

[You have received a Quest offer! Do you wish to accept?]

Normally the player would have had to answer whether or not he agreed to do the quest, but now there was no need for words.

Zayne just picked up a box of matches, and nodded slightly, thus giving his answer.

"Thank you. I knew I could count on you." The old man sighed as he pointed in the distance, "The cemetery is on the other side. My wife's name was Mona Holt, and her tombstone is on the last row, so... you can easily find it."

[Quest Received!]

[Old Man Jafa's Request

Light the candle on Mona's grave instead of her loving husband, who is too busy to do it this time.]

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Zayne said with a serious look before heading for the exit of the village.

"Hah, don't be in a hurry. Unlike me, you still have plenty of time." The old man said with a slight smile, looking at the young man who, by a strange coincidence, was walking in the opposite direction from everyone else.

The south of Landow Village had everything necessary for newcomers to develop as quickly as possible, so it was no surprise that the general mass headed there. They followed the beta testers who already knew that, especially since things were much worse up north.

Zayne stopped at a signpost at the exit of the village, took the path that led to the cemetery, and followed it.

'Fine, now it's time to check what I got by taking the blank map.' Zayne reminded himself, stepped forward, and opened his inventory.

A window appeared in front of him with many cells as well as a 3D model of himself. To Zayne's surprise, there were only three things in his inventory, a long gray coat, which he had been wearing from the beginning, but because of the many things in the beginning he didn't notice it. There was also a short blade and an unusual ring with a split moon symbol.

'No food or potions... Damn, considering that this is VR then I will feel hungry and thirsty. As soon as I complete the mission I have to deal with this problem right away.' Zayne said inwardly as he closed his eyes.

A blade appeared in his hand as well as a ring on his finger. The blade and coat were common, the simplest items a novice like him should have, but the ring caught his attention.

[Ring of the Shattered Moon (Rare)

The old, broken ring that some collector might want to buy.

???

Required Level: 1]

'Hmm... The other cards had a lot more useful items, especially to begin with, but it looks like I made the right choice since I wouldn't have gotten this ring otherwise, would I?' Zayne wondered with a pensive expression.

Then, Zayne sighed, hung the blade on his belt, and moved on. He wanted as much as anyone to have a set of armor, a long sword, or a magic staff, but he felt that having something unique was better.

Step. Step. Step.

The path narrowed as it passed through part of the forest near the village. Zayne was not afraid of such places, but for some reason, he felt uncomfortable now as though something was pressing against him and the cold wind blowing against his back was an unpleasant companion on his way to the cemetery.

'Damn... The feeling is not at all different from real life, it's impressive, but frightening at the same time... Aren't games meant to distract from problems? Why create another reality?' Zayne thought, not understanding why the developers were so serious.

Crackle.

There was the sound of a broken branch as Zayne instantly turned around. Normally he wouldn't have paid attention to it, but it was the only thing that broke the literally dead silence.

"Hmm? Was I imagining it? Hardly anyone but me decided to go to the cemetery first thing." Zayne carelessly shrugged as he headed on.

Whoooooooooosh.

Suddenly a shadow with cruel red eyes appeared before him. Zayne flinched in surprise, then a slight smile appeared on his face. It was a wolf, blocking his path.

Even though the beast looked like the real one, Zayne understood that it was only a game, after all. It was a good opportunity for him to understand how to fight in this world.

"The Black Wolf will be the first opponent I defeat? Well, that's a nice choice." Zayne drew his blade from his belt as he prepared for battle.

The wolf slowly headed toward him, gradually getting closer, then the wolf bared its teeth and plunged on Zayne as its prey.

Zayne swung his blade as the wolf's neck was in the path of the slash. Scarlet blood spurted outward, and some drops fell on Zayne's face, distorted by the terrible pain he was in.

The wolf's sharp fangs sank into Zayne's arm with a death grip that seemed impossible to break.

"What the hell!!!" Zayne exclaimed in panic as fear rippled through his body. He was badly frightened and acted on instinct, so he sharply plunged the blade right into the wolf's head the best he could.

Bam.

Zayne fell to the ground with heavy, intermittent breathing without even dropping the wolf's heavy body. He tried to come to his senses, to calm himself down as suddenly a multitude of notifications appeared before him.

[You have received 20 Experience points!]

[Since this is your first kill the experience gained has been doubled!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have earned the Title - 'One Hit']

[You are the First to Kill a Unique Monster!]

[You have gained the Title - 'Risky Hunter']

Any other player would have been thrilled by what happened. Getting so many bonuses, in the beginning, was almost a perfect start, even the beta testers would have been seriously jealous of him if they had found out about it. However, Zayne didn't think about it at all at the time.

"Fuck it... I gotta get out of here as fast as I can!" Zayne exclaimed, tossed the wolf aside, and looked up as though there was his salvation. Then, his body glowed blue, disappearing.

Zayne left the game in his first hour.