Chapter VIII - Fortuitous Encounter

The viewers were excited and cheering Marcus on as they hung on his every action as he killed 10 Giant Beetles without ever taking any damage.

Giant Beetle slain!

10 EXP

Level Up!

<Congratulations to Nobody, the first user to reach level 2! Though a small start, every adventurer needs to begin somewhere right?>

Fame +1

Marcus didn't know this would have happened. He didn't start playing until a month after launch so this was a surprise to him. He allocated his stats and pulled up his Status:

Name: Nobody

Faction: Order of Balance

Guild: <None>

Title: <None>

Class: Adventurer

Level: 2

EXP: 0/110

Sub-Class: <None>

HP: 120

STA: 110

MP: 100

STR: 5 -> 7

AGI: 5 -> 6

DEX: 5

END: 5 -> 6

VIT: 5 -> 6

FCS: 5

INT: 5

LCK: 5

Piety: 0

Fame: 1

Infamy: 0

Skills: <None>

Spells: <None>

Abilities: <None>

Pet: <None>

Mount: <None>

Companion: <None>

Partner: <None>

Marcus wanted to invest one point into Focus but he knew he wouldn't be able to use his mana for awhile and would decide to dump into it then as he had more immediate uses for his status points.

Marcus felt the immediate surge of energy and the results were apparent as well, the previous level 1 Giant Beetles could no longer outright absorb his damage as he was now continuously dealing 1 DMG.

The drawback to this was that he no longer was getting 10 EXP a kill, it had reduced by one. This increased the amount of kills he needed but thanks to his two points in STR, he cut his kill times down considerably. From 60 down to 20. He only had to evade two attacks per Giant Beetle now before killing them.

He had now ran into a new problem… he was killing them too fast now. He quickly was able to reach level 3 and this allowed him to finally hit a 2 and increase his initial critical strike from 2 to 4 cutting down his kill times even faster.

His viewers were blown away. None of them had gotten the game yet but just the graphics and the killing ability that Nobody was presenting was tantalizing, they were all taking mental notes.

As Marcus was sitting in the grass relaxing while waiting for the mobs to despawn another announcement rang!

<Congratulations to DewDrop, the first user to Complete a Quest! Humble beginnings result in large aspirations!>

Fame +1

Marcus remembered DewDrop from his past life, she was one of the top questers who lead the first party to actually finish the MSQ (Main Storyline Quest.) He never had any interactions with her previously but he wouldn't let that chance slip through his fingers this time.

He pulled up his main menu with a flick of his wrist as he navigated to the Social Tab and sent her a friend request with the simple message:

"Congratulations from one first to another!"

As another Giant Beetle respawned he stood up and withdrew his sword, before he was able to engage she replied

"Thanks! How did you level up? The quest didn't award any EXP like I was expecting." The notification: 'Friend Request accepted' appeared.

Marcus replied "You have to kill mobs" as he turned his attention back to his killing spree, wanting to hit 5 as quickly as possible. Due to the respawn timers Marcus spent more time waiting around than he actually was killing the Giant Beetles.

He began interacting with his viewers for the first time as he was sitting, seemingly talking to himself when a small group of adventures finally arrived following the quests to come out and bring back a Giant Beetle Corpse.

Marcus observed as the two males walked in front of a smaller female all wearing the basic Adventurer's Tunic, Trousers, and Boots. One of the men was wielding a Basic Shield in addition to his Wooden Sword, while the other was using a Wooden Pike as a walking stick. The woman behind had a quiver slung around her shoulder and holding a Trainee's Short-bow.

They were chatting about how realistic the game was and the NPCs all seemed so real. It didn't take long for them to notice Marcus lounging in the clearing.

"Greetings!" The one with the shield said, "Did you kill all of these yourselves?" pointing to the corpses of the Giant Beetles who have yet to despawn. Marcus nodded before replying "They need another few minutes before they disappear, and another few to respawn."

Marcus preventively stood up as one of the Giant Beetles was about to respawn. He turned towards the small group "I'll show you how to kill the first one and you guys can take the next one."

The guy with the spear stepped forward "Why would we let you go first? You've killed plenty by the look of things!" He was going to continue in protest when the man with the shield extended his arm in front of him to stop his antics.

Marcus shrugged "Okay, I was just trying to give pointers, since as you said, I have been here awhile, but go ahead next one is yours." Marcus smirked and sat back down, as his chat was mocking the group unbeknownst to them.

Shortly after the Giant Beetle appeared, Marcus wasn't worried, he was two or three kills away from his goal before he was planning to head back to town. He figured that even if there was three of them and only one of him that he would be able to kill faster anyways.

The girl pulled out a training arrow from her quiver and nocked it in her bow carefully taking aim and firing it at the beetle's head. It bounced off - 0 DMG!

Marcus shook his head as the beetle screeched and fluttered it's wings and launched itself at the group. The man with the shield braced himself and took the attack with his shield, blocking it and mitigating the damage taken.

The arrogant spear user began thrusting over and over as the three began fighting in unison. Marcus was actually surprised by the group's teamwork but they were still dealing 0 DMG. "Is it invincible???" The girl shouted when the man with the spear finally hit 1 DMG. "Keep it up! It's not invincible, don't let up!"

As they were wrapped up in their fighting Marcus had already dealt with one Beetle and was watching their fight. The beetle was almost dead but still putting up a fight.

It was then that Marcus noticed that luck had been on his side as a Giant Beetle had respawned but instead of the Ink Black exoskeleton it was a shiny Gold Beetle.

Marcus audibly gasped and covered his face at the rare monster and started prancing around it as if he had met the Goddess herself.

Exemplary Giant Beetle

Level 1

HP: ???/???