The Beginning of Exploration, Slaughtering Pigmen

Leaving the sanctuary.

Irving was somewhat excited.

He knew that to survive the impending apocalypse in a month, he had to become stronger.

The game was linked to reality!

In this game created by Blue Star Will, if he could truly become strong, he could dominate in real life as well.

This was his only chance to defy fate!

"Damn! So the sanctuary was built underground..."

After Irving stepped out, he glanced back at the cellar behind him, a bitter smile on his face.

Before him stretched a forest.

The breeze rustled through the trees, causing the leaves to dance in the air before falling to the ground.

Irving opened his arms slightly, feeling the coolness brought by the breeze.

"This... feels too real."

In the past, when playing online games, he only controlled characters on the screen. But in this strange world, he felt as if he were truly there, experiencing all kinds of sensory impressions that surprised him.

"Let's see what's around first."

A thick layer of withered leaves accumulates on the ground, and every step makes a rustling sound. 

Irving explored in the forest, but didn't take two steps and seemed to stumble on something.

"Damn it!"

He almost fell flat on his face. When he steadied himself and looked back, he saw a rusty long sword lying on the ground, covered by the fallen leaves.

[Pick up: Rusty Iron Sword?]

When Irving picked up the rusty iron sword, basic information about the sword appeared before his eyes.

[Item Information: Rusty Iron Sword.]

[Grade: Scrap.]

[Details: A rusty iron sword left behind by an adventurer from the past. Despite its rust due to the long time it has been abandoned, it still inflicts considerable damage...]

[Tip: Players can upgrade weapons by collecting materials.]

"Picked up some scrap. Can't believe it's so insulting." Irving was speechless.

But no matter what, it can still be considered a self-defense weapon, having it is better than not having it.

Just as he was about to continue forward to see if he could collect other materials, he suddenly heard a roar behind him.

Next moment.

Irving felt as though the ground was trembling. When he turned around, he was taken aback.

A hideous pigman was charging towards him at lightning speed!

"So fast..."

Though Irving was prepared, he had only ever controlled characters on the screen before, and now he was truly experiencing it.

He could see the tusks in the pigman's gaping mouth and even smell a foul odor.

"Then I'll use you as a sacrifice to my sword!"

Irving tried his best to control his inner emotions, gripping the rusty iron sword tightly, and then jumped up and stabbed towards the pig man.

In the forest, man and beast engaged in battle.

Five minutes later.

Irving panted heavily, beads of sweat covering his forehead. His deep eyes were fixed on the pigman, who was on the verge of death on the ground.

The pigman was covered with sword wounds, blood flowing freely... It was hissing with its yellow tusks and continued to howl.

"You dare to growl at me!"

Irving was furious.

He raised the rusty iron sword high above his head and stabbed it down into the pigman's heart!

[You have successfully killed the "Pigman".]

[Dropped items: Pigman Bones10, Broken Ruby1.]

[Pick up?]

"Yes."

Irving was somewhat surprised. He knew that normally, killing such a low-level creature should not result in so many drops.

Pigman Bones*10.

And there was even a ruby. Although it was broken, it was still considered a rare item.

"The drop rate is ten times higher, how cool!"

Every little bit counts.

Not to mention this was his first creature killed in this alternate world, and he could get so many materials.

After picking up the materials, the system prompt sounded again:

[Upgrade the rusty iron sword?]

[Available materials: Pigman Bones10.]

[Available materials: Broken Ruby*1.]

[...]

Equipment is always crucially important. Just like if a hunter doesn't have a suitable weapon, his strength will be greatly reduced.

After some research, Irving chose to use the materials he just gained to upgrade the rusty iron sword.

A faint golden light flashed in the equipment synthesis column, and then a new property column popped out.

[Weapon: Iron Sword.]

[Tier: Common★]

[Embedded.]

[Introduction: The forged iron sword is extremely sharp, and a broken ruby is embedded in it. There is a 0.1% chance to trigger a critical hit during combat.]

After some research, Irving had some understanding of equipment upgrades. The tiers are roughly divided into: common, advanced, rare, epic, legendary...

And each tier has a star rating, up to five★!

"Not bad!"

After tasting the sweetness, Irving continued to move deeper into the forest.

Compared to the surroundings of the sanctuary, the deeper he went, the higher the chance of encountering pigmen.

But now that the tier of the iron sword had been raised, it was sharper than before. Each slash could cut through the pigman's thick armor, leaving a wound three to four centimeters deep.

"Enjoyable."

"Really enjoyable!"

In the forest, Irving shouted with satisfaction, his suppressed anger had been released.

Around him, countless pigmen fell in pools of blood...

From the very beginning of the battle, as he gradually mastered some techniques, it had turned into a one-sided slaughter. With the tenfold loot drop bonus, in just half a day, Irving had collected:

Pigman Bones*320.

Broken Rubies*10.

Along the way, he also gathered plenty of upgrade materials: Stones*224, Wood*182.

In addition,

During the process of killing pigmen, a piece of equipment also dropped—Pigskin Armor!

[Equipment: Pigskin Armor]

[Tier: Common★★]

[Introduction: The armor made of pig skin has a certain defensive effect and can make the pig person feel scared when attacking.]

Initially, Irving wanted to embed the broken rubies into the armor, but found it useless.

Different types of gems correspond to different equipment, and rubies can only be embedded in weapons, obtaining random properties like: critical hit, life steal, berserk...

Armor equipment can only be embedded with green gems.

"Never mind for now." Irving shook his head.

Even with a talent for tenfold loot drops, but he was about to kill all the pig people in this forest, only obtained 10 broken rubies, indicating the preciousness of the gemstones.

Now was not the time to fuss over these.

"These pigmen must be the lowest level of monster, and they seem quite unintelligent... Killing such creatures, even with a high loot drop rate, won't yield anything valuable. Let's move deeper." Irving thought to himself.

...

On the mountain's edge, the sun was setting.

The afterglow illuminated the forest, casting a long shadow behind Irving, who was holding a blood-stained long sword, creating a somewhat picturesque scene.

"What's that?"

As Irving continued to explore deeper into the forest, he hesitated upon seeing something, and his brows furrowed.

In front of him, there appeared to be a large clearing.

The open space is surrounded by low stone walls, with long spears erected next to them. Each spear bears a pig's head.

Crimson blood dripped continuously.

"This..."

Irving's frown deepened, a strong sense of unease emerging in his heart.

The pigmen's heads on the spears must have been freshly killed, which also meant that there could be some powerful entity nearby.

Irving lowered his footsteps, holding his breath.

Trying not to make a sound, he slowly approached the eerie structure on the clearing.

"It looks like some kind of altar..." Irving muttered to himself.

Upon reaching the low wall, he saw scattered kidney organs inside, and a pungent smell of blood immediately rushed up.

Just as he was puzzled, he suddenly noticed something in the corner of the altar, crouched and gnawing on something.

Sharp teeth tearing at the innards, making a squeaking sound... As nightfall approached, the scene was chilling.

A low growl came.

The beast gnawing on the pigman's corpse seemed to realize something, and suddenly turned its head. Its crimson gaze locked onto Irving and, like a bolt from a bow, it crazily pounced towards him.

"Fuck!"

Irving didn't even have a chance to react before being pinned to the ground, helplessly watching as the monster opened its row of sharp teeth towards his throat.

"It's over! I'm done for..."