Chapter 10

[ Man-Eating Frog Lv. 5

HP: 421/500 (Regenerating)

Status: Angry ]

"Lily, watch me." Jhin said before running towards the large monster.

Seeing one of its prey walking towards its direction, The Man-eating frog slightly opened its large mouth and immediately, its tongue launched forward with an incredibly fast speed towards the direction where Jhin was.

Jhin simply stepped to the side before continuing to advance forward while feeling a fast and brief movement beside him.

Bam!

The Man-eating Frog immediately retracted its tongue as soon as it hit the ground. Its tongue left a large and shallow crater on the hard ground which showed how powerful that attack was.

Reaching within three meters of the monster, Jhin stopped after seeing the Man-eating Frog's mouth slightly open once more.

He immediately rolled to the side and landed in a lowered stance where his knees were slightly touching the ground.

Bam!

Once again Jhin dodged the Man-eating Frog's tongue.

In that moment, Jhin lunged forward, with his legs fully stretched from the ground.

Stab!

His dagger smoothly dug on the monster's chest.

Normally, players at Jhin's level wouldn't even be able to make a scratch at the Man-eating Frog due to its tough skin which contributed to its high defence.

However, Jhin's stats were immensely boosted which made him five to six times stronger than those at the same level as him.

Shuk!

Unfortunately, his daggers wouldn't be able to reach the heart nor any of its other vital organs because of its thick fats.

Knowing that his attack wouldn't be enough, he made a swift arc with his arm which made the blade carve smoothly on the monster's chest.

[-150]

"GROAAAA!!!"

The Man-eating frog roared in pain but Jhin's arm did not stop until he made a large circular wound on its light yellow belly.

Jhin moved incredibly fast which was why he was able to leave that wound before the monster jumped away in pain.

The monster jumped high above the skies to the point where one might think it was flying.

It was certainly terrifying to see the monster when you're underneath it but Jhin called out to Lily who was waiting for the monster to land.

"Lily, do you see the wound I left?" Jhin asked as-

Boom!

The ground shook as the giant frog landed somewhere in front of them.

Lily nodded. "Yes mister, I can see it."

Jhin continued, "Good. Then here's a simple task."

Lily turns to Jhin with a serious expression. Jhin couldn't help but find that the little valkyrie looked adorable.

"In the middle of that circular wound is your target. I've already damaged the monster to an extent so you should have no problems so long as you remember the things I taught you." Jhin tapped her on her shoulder and smiled. "If you kill it quickly, I will reward you."

An excited smile blossomed on Lily's face after being promised a reward.

Jhin added, "But of course, the deal is off if you charge at it recklessly."

"Yes Mister!"

"Very well then. Go."

Lily nodded and started running courageously, fully determined to prove herself to Jhin while also looking forward to the reward he promised.

Watching Lily's small back charging towards the terribly large monster, Jhin's eyes glinted strangely as his warm and amicable smile disappeared.

Jhin knows that Lily wouldn't be able to take on that monster. Not even with her training and equipment.

One didn't even need to think about it after all, She was simply a normal villager girl who only had four days of training and now she was setting off to fight one of the most devastating monsters in the early stages of the game?

As easy as Jhin made it seem like, it was incredibly hard to find the right timing to dodge the Man-Eating Frog's tongue attack let alone get close to it.

And even if one were to get close to it, the monster's skin and fats would make it hard to hit any of its vitals.

Of course, one could try to approach from above or behind it, that is of course, if that person wasn't afraid of getting devoured by its large mouth.

Let's not forget that Lily was only a small child who would face such a monster.

What would be the result? Of course it would be imminent death.

At the same time, Jhin wasn't worried since they had Lily's necklace so whatever happens from now, he will not move to save the little girl.

'That's right...'

Jhin's eyes glinted coldly as he glanced at one particular tree with a hint of anticipation.

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Running fast towards the large monster, Lily's face was undaunted as she saw the Man-Eating Frog's mouth crack open.

Knowing that it was the cue of its attack, Lily dodged to the right by doing a cartwheel.

Bam!

The frog's huge tongue missed her and dug on the ground.

'A fluke?' Jhin thought since he knew that even normal players would have a hard time to react to it even if they knew the sign of its attack.

Lily who perfectly landed on her feet, didn't stay still and used her spear to cut the stretched tongue of the monster.

[-38]

"GROAAAAA!!!!"

Blood trailed across the air as the monster hastily retracted its tongue.

Lily used this opportunity to lessen her distance with the monster.

The frog glared at the little girl as the latter was only five steps away from it. Remembering the same actions from the man earlier, the monster lowered its face until its chin touched the ground and then opened its wide mouth.

Lily's eyes widened in surprise and she knew that another attack was coming. With all her strength, she jumped upwards to dodge the incoming attack.

But to her horror, there was no devastating pink muscle that crashed underneath her.

She looked at the monster once more and there she found the tongue rushing towards her in mid-air.

'Oh no!'

She had no time to react nor defend herself as she was hit by the attack. Getting hit by that tongue was the same as getting hit by a speeding bulldozer.

Needless to say...

BAM!

Lily's figure disappeared from Jhin's view as the large tongue continued to extend until it crashed on the trees.

He looked at the list of party members and was mildly surprised to see Lily's health hadn't reached zero yet.

Just as he was wondering when the cat who was hiding behind a tree would make a move, the Man-Eating Frog howled in pain once more.

[-86]

"GROAAAAAA!!!!"

Jhin's brows slightly furrowed as he looked back at the monster.

A large amount of blood trailed across the field as the monster retracted its tongue with the tip missing.

From the rubbles across the trees of the forest, Lily stood in a stance with a messy and bloodied appearance.

However, the look of determination never left her eyes.

She was breathing heavily while blood and sweat fell from her face.

'Mister already saved me once... Lily is not shameless enough to ask for help again...'

She forcibly stopped her arms which were trembling but not because of fear, instead it was because of the weakness she felt after receiving that strong impact.

She raised her spear and glared at the monster.

'Lily must no longer disappoint mister... mister he... he believes in me!'

Lily briefly looked at the Health bar of the monster before strengthening herself  in a stance.

"147 HP left..."

She took a deep breath and raised her spear once more.

Her legs felt incredibly weak and blood kept dripping from her forehead but nevertheless, she advanced forward.

Seeing the little girl slowly walk towards itself, the Man-Eating Frog made a different attack. It leaned downwards while opening its large maw.

Lily saw it and instinctively, she knew that if she failed to dodge this attack, she will die.

Seconds later,

Dwoosh!

The monster's legs extended from the ground and leapt towards Lily with its mouth wide open.

The light in the little girl's pupils darkened as it reflected the fast approaching interior of the mouth of the Man-Eating Frog.

Taking another short but deep breath, she relaxed her tense body while remembering the training she went through.

Meanwhile, Jhin saw the girl's actions and thought that she had given up.

But then, as the mouth was about to swallow her whole, The light in Lily's eyes returned as a courageous smile appeared on her cute face.

Her expression seemed as if she had been waiting for this exact moment.

She put more strength into her body once more and-

[Fireball]

Like a nimble grasshopper, she jumped out of the way while leaving behind a ball of fire which was directly swallowed by the Man-Eating Frog.

Boom!

-150

"GROAAAAA!!!!!"

The monster made its last howl before collapsing to the ground.

THUD...

"Hua... hua... hua..." Lily breathed heavily as the monster collapsed right in front of her.

Checking the HP of the monster once again, Lily still couldn't process it.

'I... defeated it...?'

Ding! Ding!

[You have defeated [Man-Eating Frog] Lv. 5, you have gained 130 experience points.]

Ding! Ding!

[You have reached level: 2

+2 Points to all base stats

+2 Skill Points

+1 Attribute Points ]

Simultaneously, Lily began to feel rejuvinated as all her wounds and exhaustion were washed away. She looked at her health bar and found out that it was filled again.

It was only then, did Lily finally understand what happened.

"Lily really defeated it!" She exclaimed in joy.

Lily started jumping up and down, similar to how an excited child would do. Then, she turned towards Jhin who was walking towards her with a proud expression.

She didn't wait another second and ran towards him.

"Oof.."

Jhin caught the little girl who tackled him on his waist while rubbing her face on his clothes.

"Mister! Mister! Mister! Lily did it! Lily actually did it!" She repeatedly said in excitement.

Jhin sighed and stroked her head. "You really did it, Lily."

He pulled her away from her and knelt down to match her height.

He pulled down his mask which showed his proud smile and gentle gaze. "You have greatly exceeded my expectations, Lily. I am proud of you."

Lily's eyes slowly widened in surprise before glistening as tears began to build up.

"I... Lily... Lily was..." She felt so many emotions at once that she couldn't even describe what she felt but what she does know is that, she felt very, very happy after hearing Jhin's words.

It didn't take long before she began to sob and Jhin took her into his arms while gently caressing her head and small back.

'Impossible...' Jhin thought as he stared at the corpse of the giant frog.

He couldn't understand it.

Never within his predictions did he see the possibility that Lily may be able to accomplish the task.

Which is why his sentiments of surprise was genuine when he complemented the little girl.

While comforting the little girl, Jhin decided to check her character information.

[ Name: Lily Level: 2 (EXP: 8%)

Title: None

Class: Sorcerer

HP: 250/250

MP: 130/130

Status: Healthy

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Strength: 32

Agility: 23

Intelligence: 13

Vitality: 25

-

Available Attribute Points: 0

Available Skill Points: 2

-

Active Skill(s):

-Fire Ball: Available

Passive Skill(s):

N/A ]

In the world of Ascended Order, when a player levels up, his or her status resets to its peak no matter what his condition was.

Except for the skill cooldowns, everything else is restored perfectly.

This mechanism was often abused by players wherein they will let their exp reach 99% and then go on to complete the task they intend to do.

They do this as a safety net so that in the case where they are almost dead, they could simply kill a nearby mob in order to refresh their statuses.

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Finding nothing odd with her status, He finally relented and accepted that not only was she lucky, but she was very talented since she managed to use the technique he had taught her.

Especially her last move. No matter how unfeeling Jhin was, he had to compliment his student in being able to clutch up like that.

After five minutes or so, Lily was finally able to calm down as she pulled away from Jhin's embrace with puffy red eyes.

"Sniff... sniff... does this mean- sniff... does this mean that... Lily gets the- sniff... reward...?"

Jhin smiled. "Of course. But first," He looked behind Lily and said, "Let's get your first monster loot, alright?"

"Un!" The little girl nodded.

Jhin stood up and led Lily towards the large monster.

[ Man-Eating Frog Lv. 5

HP: 0/500

Status: Dead (Lootable) ]

"Alright Lily, first stretch out your arm towards the monster." Jhin ordered and the little girl followed.

A game notice appeared on the little girl and she reported it to Jhin. The latter nodded and continued, "Now there should be a choice, just select the 'Yes' option."

The little girl did as she was told and in her inventory, she found several new items including a small amount of iron.

She reported it all to Jhin and after hearing them all, Jhin said that they were useless.

"Come on, you shouldn't be satisfied with just this one monster." Jhin said while standing back up.

Lily looked up to Jhin and nodded, feeling quite confident of herself. "Yes mister! Lily will not be satisfied with just this one monster!"

Looking at the little valkyrie's attitude, Jhin smiled. "Very well. I will give you another reward if you manage to defeat at least fifteen [Man-Eating Monster]."

Hearing her next task, Lily glanced at the corpse of the giant frog which started to decay into dust which followed along the strong wind.

She took a deep breath and refreshed her mind before turning to answer Jhin.

"I will do it."

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Seeing the dark ceiling of his room, Jhin weakly got up and stretched his stiff body.

He checked the view outside his window and saw that it was dawn. The sun began to shine from the horizon, painting the dark blue night in orange-ish hue.

After briefly checking the time, Jhin went to wash his face and get ready for the day.

Today was the third day of the game's release and the internet was even more active than the day of its release.

Dozens of videos and Ascended Order content flodded the internet to the point where not a single person in the world hadn't heard of it.

At the same time, Wandering Tree's posts gained more and more views as the players were questioning the mysterious identity of the rich player.

Many speculated that this mysterious player was actually some hidden rich and influential person in real life which is why the internet began pointing fingers at these type of people.

One of which, Bavellion Family was questioned. They however, refused to make a statement.

After checking the forums of the game Jhin decided to go out and exercise his body. He didn't want to neglect his physical healthy by not paying attention to it.

He made a brief round across his neighborhood where he met several peoplr who woke up early. As he passed by, he couldn't help but notice that compared to the previous days he jogged, there was severely less people even in the nearby park where a crowd of physically active people gathered.

He didn't mind it at all as he simply went back home after being satisfied with his run.

It was 7 in the morning when Jhin arrived at his home and once again, he was met with a hunger-inducing scent from the kitchen.

Cluck.

Closing the front door behind him, Jhin went to take a shower before joining his mother in breakfast.

He took a longer bath than usual since he wanted to get rid of all the sweat he accumulated including the dried sweat that stuck to him while he was playing the game.

After doing so, he went to the kitchen and saw that everyone had already gathered for breakfast.

"Morning." Jhin greeted.

His mother turned and smiled at him; inviting him to take a seat.

His father briefly nodded before looking back at the newspaper he was reading.

Lastly, Mia mildly smiled at him before looking back at her phone emotionlessly.

Just as he sat down, the front door suddenly rang.

Ding! Dong!

'Ho? Well that was fast.' Jhin said inwardly, thinking that the person he had been expecting had arrived.

"I'll get it." Jhin said before walking towards the front door.