5 The Grind is Real. Shackled Are We to the Grind

First and foremost, an analysis of the interface, in the top left features health, mana, and exp bars, a separate menu, and a lower bar that displayed status effects (if they were applied).

Something that is prominently featured in modern VR games is the lack of any sort of skill display.

This lack of a skill display is meant to add yet another touch of realism, to utilize skills, players would need to actually need to memorize skills and the proper methods to use them rather than simply pressing a button.

However, this method of skill usage/display presenting a rather glaring problem in that many people wouldn't be able to become jacks of all trades as they simply wouldn't possess the capacity of memorizing such a wide variety of skills.

The menu displayed features one could typically expect from normal games; features like that of a friends/community tab, settings, achievements, a tips guide...

Wait, there's a tips page! At this revelation, Eidiri begins to preview it.

The tips page provided a basic beginner information guide, not something many people would take a glance at, but something that would prove to be integral in the coming times.

The guide provided basic user information in regards to how the game worked/operated, this including basic mechanics (leveling up, skills, mobs, etc.)

From then on, Eidiri proceeded to equip the necklace, improving his strength by a value of 1. After that, he ventured deeper into the woods in search of more kobolds to slay, other players sporadically dotting the woods, fighting kobolds of their own.

Seeing this, he decided to get a move on and continued in search of more kobolds to grind.

See, despite the initial close brush of death, the fact that this Is a VR game has been hammered in, so while the experience is indeed terrifying, and the sensation somewhat real. It would not only be illegal to cause such sensations of deathly circumstances to customers but strictly criminal.

As such, harmful sensations that may lead to adverse effects like pain and shock have experienced a rather dramatic decrease in their impact on the player.

Overall, such a modification in the sensory devices of the recliners resulted in near-death experiences in the VR world, being akin to that of a non-VR horror game.

The experience itself is scary, yes, but there really is no real danger at all, unless one is under the circumstances of being psychologically unsuited for the game, which was a category Rowan was (thankfully) not part of.

Finally, after passing a dead log, a kobold reached out and grabbed Eidiri's leg, dragging him towards the ground.

A common behavior among weak kobolds would be to go for underhanded tactics. Battle strategies like that of flinging dirt/sand in their opponent's eyes would be quite common.

In response to being dragged down, Eidiri lifted his leg up and smashed it into the kobold; however, the kobold refused to let go, wildly grabbing at his ankle, scratch marks now adorning Eidiri's skin.

"I'll get you for that," Eidiri growled, "Now get off me!" he cried out, swinging his leg at the dead log.

Thankfully enough, Kobold's as a matter of fact do not possess a high amount of intelligence, and while the blunt force trauma by log could have easily been avoided by letting go, it stubbornly refused to.

After being forcibly removed from Eidiri's leg and slammed into the log, the kobold tried to get up again; however, it was unable to do so.

"It's dazed," he thought, making use of the kobold being temporarily concussed, he rushed in to finish the blow.

Taking the rock from before, he swiftly slammed it into the side of the kobold's head, and while it was a brutal death, it was a swift one.

This kobold didn't drop much in terms of loot, although it did provide him another 5 exp points, yet another drop of water into the bucket.

Eidiri kept going from kobold to kobold, and while at times he suffered injuries, he would wait out for a bit and utilize the game's natural regeneration/recovery to fix him up.

At times the kobold he was fighting would flee, leading to only yet another disappointing result.

Following that first kobold he had killed, none of the others really possessed anything of value.

Some ruined scraps of cloth, a smooth rock, a dead rat, and more odds and ends.

None of these were of any real value to him, or any other player as well.

As he kept farming these kobolds, the amount of exp required to his level up slowly decreased and soon enough he breached the gap and reached level two.

Of course, although he was one of the earlier ones to reach this level, his efficiency could not compare to those who possessed aids due to their various backgrounds and organizations.

Such efficiency in leveling up solo was already quite commendable in the first place.

After reaching the next level, Eidiri's stat points were all raised by values of 1, all of his stats now being 2 while his strength was level 3 due to the Sharp Tooth Necklace.

As he ventured deeper into the wood the lighting gradually became darker, and the mood ominous.

As he proceeded to walk forwards, Eidiri is suddenly dragged into from behind into a bush, a group of fully grown kobolds then proceed to slash into him with bone knives,

Helpless to their attack, he could only pitifully die and is sent back to the respawn point, his transparent spirit undergoing an animation in which it enters a new body, its appearance the same as the one that had died before.

As a penalty for dying, he lost a level, his exp being at 465/500. Seeing how the grinding that he had put over an hour's worth of time into had been lost in just a quick moment, Eidiri internally grieves within his heart.

Standing up and heading back into the woods, he rages to himself, "You want to kill me when I'm weak? Well, then I'll keep grinding your children until I can defeat you!"