Encounter on the Road

'Free attribute point! Hah if those top players knew I took a discovery reward, they'd cough up blood. I should take a screenshot and make an anonymous post.'

Once finished with the post, Locke turned back to look at the town, now in ruins. All the bodies had started to rapidly decompose and a layer of mist lifted up covering the ground around the town. All of the buildings had suddenly collapsed and official became a ruin.

After a few minutes of observation, Locke noticed a transparent figure floating around. He used the default observation skill but because his intelligence was low, he didn't get much info.

<Wandering Soul [Lvl. ???]>

'Damn, they are above level 0. I need 3 more intelligence or a better observation skill...' He observed a few more of the wandering souls finally found something he could examine.

<Weak Wandering Soul [Lvl. 0]>

<Skills: Devour [Lvl. ???]>

'Nice! Let's try out this new ability.' He allocated the free attribute point into Mysticism which gave him 3 unspent soul points and targeted the weak wandering soul with [Early Grave]. Dark energy surged in his hand but then sputtered out.

[Target is already dead.]

'Damn, stupid system being overly technical…' He decided to give up on that and began walking north. He opened up the forums and noticed a few pinned posts in the beginner's sections. Apparently, all of the beginner towns and tutorial areas had transformed.

While the players called them 'tutorial' and 'beginner,' it was just because they spawned there. The system never implied these as being tutorial. Since the border guards prevented players without rookie badges from passing, it naturally became a newbie zone.

However, according to several players, all the beginner areas had 'leveled up' and were no longer suitable for new players. Some even said that the border guards have let people through for safety reasons.

Many players commented how it was remarkable to see a game evolve naturally. Others who just started, complained that the newbie area was taken away, until it was made apparent that they spawned in larger towns instead; The older players were the ones to complain at that point.

However, for Locke, he just grinned devilishly. He created a new post and titled it "New Efficient Leveling Ground!" and in the post he entered "A prime leveling ground for level 1 players has appeared with good drops, 5 credits for location."

He then inserted the information behind a paywall so anyone would just have to send the money through the forum to see the location. Of course, he made sure to disable comments, it was a common thing for people selling information on the forums.

Locke continued to walk for a few hours, without encountering anything. A notification sounded out from his interface, and when he opened it, he could only frown.

[You have been suspended from the forums for 24 hours. Reason: Scamming]

Before he said anything, he checked his digital wallet, and 15 more credits had appeared. 'Worth it. Guilds with more money than brains deserve this Robin Hood Hero stealing from them and giving to the poor; himself.'

As he was grinning and walking distractedly, he heard a ruckus and saw a group of three running his way. He thought they looked a bit familiar, but wasn't that kind of hero, so he started to move quickly, lest they ask him to save them.

"Friend, please help us, we're being chased by level 1 wild boars. We just need you to tank for a second so we can get healed."

Locke didn't even flinch as he kept moving at a brisk pace perpendicular to their approach. In his 2 months of playing, he'd encountered this situation often. At first, he would always help, but eventually he got desensitized to new players challenging level 1 monsters.

'Hmph, do they think this is some simple game? Level 1s are as strong as professional fighters. With the sloppy fighting techniques of a few level 0s or even a few level 1s you think you can face off against the AI?'

"Please, we�� we'll pay you 10 copper!"

At that, he immediately made a U-turn as if propelled by some ungodly force. He charged to their side, seeing the two wild boars approaching fast in the distance. He thought for a moment and channeled [Early Grave] on one of them.

Locke dumped all 3 of his remaining soul points into it. Dark energy formed in his hand and shot toward one of the boars, entering between its brows. However, nothing seemed to happen, and the boar only stopped for a few seconds before charging again.

He swung his sword down at the ground in front of the closer boar, causing the dirt to form a cloud. The boar ran right through it since it couldn't change its course, and started to stumble and fall due to the dirt in its eyes. The group of three had long since ran behind Locke and the player in white robes began to chant prayers.

'Looking at their gear, they are all at least level 1. Good thing I've mastered guerilla tactics against beast monsters. Who said dying thirty-two times against boars never taught you anything?'

The first blinked the dust away rather quickly and charged with an even more fiery temper at Locke. He ran to its side and kicked the boar's ribs as hard as he could, and then tried to tumble out of the way.

However, his agility was pitiful and he tripped. Fortunately, the fist boar collided with the slightly dazed second boar and caused them to stumble. Unfortunately, they fell right on top of Locke. He crawled out from under them, but had no way to run now. As he resigned himself to death, he threw open a trade request with the other group.

"20 copper since I'm going to die!"

The bulky guy that he traded with placed the coins in and hit confirm. On Locke's end he received two strikes from the boars while confirming the money in his bag.

-3, -3…

Seeing that he lived, he tried to roll away again. The scene looked quite humorous, but to Locke he needed these precious seconds as he clicked "confirm" on the real-world coin exchange, depositing the 20 copper for sale.

He laid there and waited for his hit points to hit zero. As the tusks impaled him at the side, he felt a warmth course through him.

-3, +8, -3…

Locke was shocked, the healer had actually finished his prayers and healed him just in time. The boars instantly changed their targets and charged for the white robed man. Locke couldn't help but chuckle internally.

The other two began striking at the boars. The large guy wore chainmail and seemed to shrug off the boar's hits, while the skinny guy dodged to the side while parrying. 'These guys are pretty strong; how did they get chased down by a few boars?'

However, it was only a passing inquiry, Locke wasn't really interested anymore since he got paid. He started back on his journey, leaving them to fend for themselves.

After walking for a while, Locke checked the server time. He had been on for a little over 4 hours. The time in-game flowed faster than in the real world. These 4 hours were only 2 hours in reality.

[You have defeated Wild Boar Level 1: +100 xp, +2 copper, +3 soul chips.]

He checked the server clock and did a quick calculation. 'About 49 minutes since the fight…' Locke realized that his skill must have triggered, but the fact that he got all of the experience means the boar either killed the group, or ran away.

'Damn, if only I'd been in range when it died, I could've triggered [Soul Harvest].'

...

Earlier,

"Damn that guy, he actually left after getting paid?"

"Why did you even heal him, shouldn't trust anyone wearing the starting gear."

"I thought he was just unlucky with gear since he was using magic; only level 1s have a class."

The three of them argued as they fought the boars. They had stumbled upon a Violet Treasure Chest and as the Thief of their group was opening it, they suddenly got ambushed by several wild boars. The Thief managed to snag the treasure, luring most of them away as she ran, but four chased the others.

They fought off two of them but realized they couldn't keep fighting so they ran. However, they did not expect these boars to keep chasing them for over 200 yards. When they encountered someone on the road, they immediately saw a chance to turn it around, but now…

Hragh!

The large man swung his axe down at the boar. They had barely any hit points, but couldn't run anymore as they were exhausted. Stamina was a hidden stat in this game, and fortunately the heal they received restored some, but they couldn't keep running.

After kiting the boars for half an hour, they finally took one down, and for some unknown reason, the other started to panic and it ran.

"Guess your ugly face scared it away." The big guy said to the skinny guy.

"Or maybe it was your odor…?"

"Shut up you two, lets rest and head over to the guard station, One Stab is already waiting for us."

"Alright, I sent the name and description of that kid to One Stab. Heh Lucky Skeleton? Your name will be half right today."