Vulture

'5 XP? The XP is split between two party members, so killing those two would have given 10 XP. They definitely weren't level 3, so level 2 players give 10 XP. That is a big leap compared to level 1.'

He crouched and picked up the wooden sword and brown pouch. He checked the amount of silver and was slightly disappointed as there were only seven silvers. It was still better than nothing. He then tossed the sword into his inventory.

Prince checked the wooden spear and brown pouch's silver collection. He then tossed both into his inventory and looked towards Ambrose.

'Steel shortsword. He also has the black cloak, meaning that he has definitely completed one of the trials.' Prince stored his steel longsword back in his inventory and then looked towards a small mountain, which peeked behind the forest.

Ambrose walked towards him and passed him. He heard footsteps following him. Therefore, he didn't turn around and instead walked past the trees until he reached the mountain.

There was the familiar small mountain with an arc-shaped entrance and stone tablet.

Ambrose went straight to the stone tablet and sighed a relief after seeing that no one had completed it beside him and the three young men.

Prince stood beside him with crossed arms. He also checked the stone tablet, and one name stood out for him.

'Cauldron, the Kingslayer.' Prince frowned as old memories surfaced in his mind. 'I thought he quit VR games altogether. Why has he returned? Well, this game is like a drug for every VR game lover. I wouldn't be surprised if even the legendary St. Julian came back from retirement.'

"Well, this is it." Ambrose pointed at the cave's entrance. "Go straight; there should be a granite door, and after opening it, there is a long hallway to a chamber.

"The trial will start after you enter through the granite door."

"Understood." Prince nodded and drew his steel longsword from the inventory. "Also, I have one more offer for you."

"Hmm?" Ambrose listened.

Prince glanced at him and said. "There are five spots remaining on the leaderboards after I complete this trial. I don't want you to advertise this trial anymore. However, I will pay for those five remaining spots as well."

'He is sure confident that he can complete this... Purchase of the remaining five spots would greatly help me so I don't have to bother with those demanding idiots from forums. However, he clearly doesn't need them for himself. For his friends most likely.'

"500 crowns for those five spots." Prince said a ridiculous price like it was nothing. "If someone happens to wander here and steal one of the spots, I won't demand a refund."

Ambrose crossed his arms and acted like he was pondering, but he had already made his decision. 500 crows would be a much higher amount than he would receive by selling them individually.

He then nodded and agreed. "Alright."

"Once I log out, I will send the money. For now..." Prince opened an interface and left the party. "This is the end of our cooperation. Thanks and farewell."

He turned around and entered the dimly lit cave. His footsteps grew distant, but they still echoed across the rocky walls.

Ambrose waited till he heard the loud creaking of the granite door being opened, and when it closed with a slam, he turned around and walked away.

'I am now 600 crowns richer than this morning. That is crazy. The VR headset cost me 400 crowns, and the game cost 60 crowns. I have now made a profit by playing the game.'

Ambrose chuckled and scratched his head. He thought it was crazy that it was possible to earn money by just playing a game he enjoyed.

'Hmm, should I search for more trials? I don't believe this is the only one. Then I could also sell that location!' Ambrose breathed heavily, and almost an image of a crown appeared in his pupils.

He had never been crazy about money, since there wasn't much he could use it for. His sickness limited his options; therefore, he only used money on personal things.

He also had another reason to go searching for trials. The rewards. Because of one trial, he jumped ranks and became an above-average player with just one trial.

He imagined what would happen if he completed five or even ten trials. However, he still didn't know if there were any other trials.

'However, where should I start searching?' Ambrose appeared in the field of dead plants and stopped walking. He looked around for a while.

'Back at Crow Cave, the mountain can be walked around. Should I try walking deeper in the forest?' Ambrose turned around and looked back towards the arc-shaped entrance of the cave.

'Very risky. However, what else would I be doing? I need to continue grinding XP, especially since I took a five hour nap and more people had reached level 3, some maybe even level 4.'

Ambrose didn't want to return to the outskirts of the forest, where hundreds of players were fighting for XP.

'Yeah, let's go see.' He drew his steel shortsword and returned to the Crow Cave. However, he didn't enter it and instead started walking around it.

It took him nearly half an hour to reach a corner that led deeper into the forest.

Ambrose stopped walking and saw rocky terrain ahead of him. It led deeper into the mountains, but there were also forests. There were a few trees that grew in the middle of the rocky terrain.

'Let's see where it leads me.' He looked behind him from where he came and didn't see anyone except the dimly lit forest. He then turned around and started walking on the rocky terrain while avoiding spraining his ankle.

"Craaawh!"

Ambrose snapped his gaze up into the sky. He saw a long-winged bird majestically flying across the air. Its scream was very loud.

'A... vulture?'

The long-winged vulture turned its gaze to the ground and let out another scream. It then dived down with immense speed and attacked the black-haired young man with its long claws.

"Basic Slash!" Ambrose quickly raised his sword and was about to slash it down, but the vulture was quicker and flew straight into him.

He was knocked back and crashed to the ground on his back. He let out a groan of pain as he felt like all the air had left his lungs.

'It is... fast!'

The vulture did another U-turn in the air and rushed back to Ambrose.

Ambrose clumsily climbed back to his feet and ran towards the vulture, his sword about to slash. However, the vulture was faster and had already grabbed his face with its long claws. It then opened its beak and munched on his ear.

"Argh!" Ambrose felt immensely uncomfortable as the vulture ate his ear. He quickly pulled out another shortsword from his inventory and slashed up.

Splurt—A fountain of blue blood colored the air. The vulture screamed in pain as it lost another one of its wings. It tried to fly away with only one wing but quickly fell back to the ground.

Ambrose felt hot liquid flow down the side of his face. He tried touching his left ear, but noticed that it was entirely gone. Also, when he tried snapping his fingers at the left side of his face, he couldn't hear anything.

He lost his hearing in his left ear!

"What the fuck!" Ambrose wobbled backward and almost fell to the ground. He was astonished by the level of the animals this far into the forest.

'This is insane!' He also didn't expect the animals to be this ruthless. He was sure that if he had given the vulture a chance, it would have eaten his face off.

'This ain't a kids game, that is for sure.' Ambrose scoffed and spat out blue blood from his mouth. He knew there were a lot of kids playing the game. Therefore, he was surprised there wasn't an age restriction of any kind.

"Scraaaa!" The vulture screamed loudly while trying to fly back into the air.

Ambrose grabbed his second shortsword with his blood-covered hand and walked towards the fallen vulture with two swords.

The vulture managed to fly one meter into the air, but it fell right back down.

"Basic Slash." Ambrose lifted both swords above his head. He slowly bent his knees and rotated both swords.

The vulture screamed and turned back to the black-haired young man, its red eyes glowing menacingly. Its beak was still covered in blue blood.

"You better give me good XP." Ambrose said coldly and swung both swords down.

A blue-blooded, separated head flew across the air.