9 Allies

Yuki knew that finding strong allies would be his next goal, even if he didn't plan on staying with them for very long. As he kept gathering information, he received a puzzling notification.

[+2500 exp & +3000 silver]

Confused by the strange notification, he decided to investigate it further. He didn't know of any methods by which a player could gain so much exp this early into the game.

"Open mail"

[+2500 exp & +3000 silver]

[Acquired from killing player: Jason]

[Method of kill: Ability]

Yuki had just killed someone without intending on it. He tried thinking of all the ways this happened. Since he was an over-thinker, Yuki quickly came to the most accurate conclusion.

For starters, when Yuki set up his ability, he made it so that his clones would attack anything that provoked them. His intention was for them to kill monsters that attacked them first. By doing this, the clones would have a higher chance of survival.

This seems perfectly fine until the conditions set are looked upon very closely. The conditions were "attacks when provoked" which meant that his clones did not see a difference between monsters and humans.

While the problem of how this happened was solved, there remained one more puzzle. Why had that player's life given Yuki 2500 exp?

There were two possible solutions to this. The first one being that each player's life is worth exactly 2500 exp. The second and more likely solution would be that when a player gets killed, all their exp gets transferred to the murderer. This would be highly likely as it wouldn't make sense to implement a way to earn that much exp so quickly. This hypothesis is further solidified by the fact that each player should've gathered about that much exp by that time. He suspected that Zero had also added this hidden aspect to the game.

Yuki was excited beyond belief. All he wanted to do was kill as many people as possible to level up faster than anyone. After all, there were no rules set against player killing. However, Yuki soon realized he couldn't change his ability because it was still on cooldown. Even so, Yuki could go and kill players himself however that was too dangerous and he needed to secure a position in a strong group.

While he was a bit angry for not being able to get an early head start, he knew that it was better to gain the trust of others so he could use them later on.

After looking for nearly 3 hours, he found the perfect group. They had 7 members composed of 5 men and 2 women. He could easily recognize that their base stats were already high. They had a long line of people trying to join them, however, nearly everyone was rejected.

Everyone at the spawn point hadn't gained any exp which meant that they were judging based on base stats. While Yuki didn't have the best base stats, he had an advantage over everyone. That being his clones which were farming exp for him and since there were 2 of them, he had double the average exp a person hunting monsters would have.

Most people when presented with the option to get any power they wished would pick the first thing that came to their mind. A large number of players had picked powers such as control over fire, ice, or another ability because they thought it was "cool".

When Yuki entered the line, many people laughed at him and made insulting remarks at him such as,

"Get lost kid, this isn't a place for you."

Yuki was already used to this type of treatment. He spent the majority of his previous life as an outcast. Their comments just made him more excited for his turn. He would laugh at them hysterically once he was accepted into the group.

After much anticipation, it was finally his turn to get judged. As soon as they saw him, the group had simultaneously decided to reject his application. Yuki had already been expecting this. Before they could even say a single word, he made his move.

"Show player information"

Player Name: Yuki Kaito

Level: 1 [6400 / 10000 exp]

All 7 members were dumbfounded. They never would've thought a scrawny teenage boy would be capable of earning so much exp.

"How did you earn that much exp?!" they asked in unison.

"It's a secret, but I'm willing to make an offer. Allow me to join your group and I'll tell you," Yuki responded.

With no option left, they accepted his proposal. They were so eager to learn about his exp earning technique that they closed all applications.

Before they left, Yuki gave the crowd one look and smiled at all the people that made fun of him. They were all infuriated however they couldn't do anything to him because he was surrounded by a strong group of allies.

Once they had arrived at a secluded location, Yuki prepared to tell them how he was so close to level 2.

"Okay now tell us how you gained this much exp!" one of the 7 asked Yuki.

"It's simple. There are a lot of weak monsters in the deep forests. They give anywhere from 100-500 exp. All I did was go there and kill as many as I could."

"Only a few monsters appear in open areas."

All of them looked at him with eager eyes. They wanted to learn as much as they possibly could. However, Yuki was not going to mention what his ability was. If he were to do that, they would all make clones and start gaining exp at an exponential rate. Yuki was worried that since their base stats are higher than his, they would kill more monsters than him which in turn will make them surpass him.

"So all we have to do is go to the deep forests and we'll be able to level up faster?" another one of the 7 asked.

"That's exactly right," Yuki responded.

After their short discussion, they prepared to find a home base before they explored the deep forests as it was getting dark.