Collecting Loot

In Everhollow there was a small platform. This platform would be busy with players. Sometimes, people would see high leveled players appearing with depressing looks, other time they would see low leveled players appearing with looks of confusion.

At that exact platform a bright light appeared. Some people looked over with interest while others didn't even give the light a glance.

{Play Dzok! You have Revived!}

"Those stupid slimes! They are lucky that I didn't have a proper weapon, or else I would have cut them up into little pieces and then served them for desert!" An angry voice apeared from the light. This voice seemed to be gritting his teeth and evil released a somewhat baleful aura.

Ki Shin finally revived back in Everhollow. He looked around and shook his head bitterly. He went in the forest to hunt for some beasts in order to collect some mob drops to sell. He needed Spirit Fragments in order to purchase a weapon of some sort, however things went completely wrong. He killed the slime at the expense of his own death, but the worst part was that he didn't even collect any loot.

He looked up with a face of defeat. 'Screw this game. Can't they just let me gain some Spirit Fragments? Is that too much to ask?' Ki Shin punched the ground before getting up. He walked down from the white platform before heading towards the towns exit once more.

'Although I couldn't collect the loot before I died, it should still be on the ground. They only despawn after half an hour.' His mind began to turn before his speed picked up. The slime loot was important to him. He just needed a little bit of Spirit Fragments in order to buy a weapon.

Ki Shin went through the large gate once again and found that the long line was still present. 'Seems like people really want to join the dungeon hunt or whatever. But I am not going to join it. I probably won't even earn anything.' Ki Shin knew that with his low level, he would not be able to do anything in the dungeon. If that was the case, it was near impossible for him to gain any loot.

{Exiting Everhollow!}

{Entering Hollow Forest!}

The two messages appear right after the other. Ki Shin didn't pay attention to them as he began to run towards the location where the slime died.

Ki Shin knew exactly where the slime died because of his map. Once a player dies, their last death point would be shown on the map for five minutes. This would allow players to head back to their previous location to collect any drops they missed because of their death. The time increased if a person died in a dungeon, giving them enough time to catch up thier party.

Ki Shin followed the mark on the map as quickly as he could. He hoped that no one run into the loot that he couldn't collect. He felt that the mob drops might have something good since the slime was actually quite strong.

He became excited at such thoughts, but also his anxiety increased. If someone did find his loot, then he would have allowed someone else to benefit from his hard work. He even died for the loot for goodness sake.

Finally, he arrived at the place where the slime died. When he got there, the mark on the map disappeared and Ki Shin's face began to brighten up. He looked down and found drops. He touched them with his hand and they appeared in his inventory.

{+12 Spirit Fragments!}

{+1 Level 5 Slime Core!}

{+1 Level 1 Slime Fishing Rod!}

Ki Shin was shocked. The first message was a surprise to him. Twelve Spirit Fragments. Twelve! That was more than a beginning players intro money. With this much spirit fragments, he would finally be able to purchase a weapon for himself.

The next loot item also shocked Ki Shin. It was a Slime Core. These things were common drops, around ninety percent chance of dropping, but what made him so excited was the fact that the Slime Core was of a level 5 slime. He knew that this was because the slime he fought was level five, but it still excited him greatly.

Ki Shin quickly took out the Slime Core from his inventory and read the description.

Level 5 Slime Core: Dropped from a Level 5 Slime. Can be used in weapon crafting and potion making. Fifty percent drop chance. Can be sold for 30 Spirit Fragments.

Ki Shin's eyes almost popped out. The Slime Core had so many uses. Even the drop chance was lower than a normal Slime Core. The best part about it was that he could sell it for thirty spirit fragments. That much money would let him get a decent weapon. Or, instead of selling it, he could buy a weapon and have the Slime Core added into it.

His excitement was building up with such insane items in his hands. 'Bug, this has to be a bug. One Slime dropping such amazing items? If this isn't a bug then it seems like God has given me a chance.' His thoughts went wild when he thought about the loot so far.

Suddenly, Ki Shin remembered that he got another item. He quickly put the Slime Core back into his inventory, not forgetting to kiss it once. He then pulled out the last item he got.

Level 1 Slime Fishing Rod: A fishing rod that can be used for both attacking and fishing. This fishing rod is able to allow a player to fish {Level 1 Slimy Sharks}. As fish are collected, one can level up the fishing rod to catch higher leveled Slimy mobs. Can do about 5 - 9 HP damage. Durability 100/100

Godly. This was the first word that appeared in Ki Shin's mind. Not only could the fishing rod fish for Slimy mobs, he would even be able to use the fishing rod as a weapon. A thought appeared in his mind.

'What would happen if I add the Slime Core onto the fishing rod?' Once this thought appeared, it couldn't escape him. The Slime Fishing Rod had the same origin as the Slime Core, which meant that they were quite compatible. If that was the case then the Slime Core would be a ginormous boost to the fishing rod.

Ki Shin's face held a smile that just wasn't leaving. The items that he got made him feel as though he was on cloud nine.

{Server's Closing in Five Minutes!

{Please Log Out As Soon As Possible!}

When the notification appeared, Ki Shin's mind went blank. 'What the hell?! I just got my loot! Why do I have to log out?!' He screamed on the inside, but there was of course no response from the system.

Ki Shin felt anger, but he knew that Universe was never opened all day. The severs had a particular time that they would be on. After that, they would close and have people log out. This was meant to ensure that no one constantly stayed on the server. Of course, there were some exceptions.

If one was in the middle of a dungeon, they would be logged out after they left the dungeon, or if they were in a safe zone. This would make sure that people won't have to face a horde of monsters when they log back into the game.

Ki Shin bitterly shook his head before finding the logout button. After he located it, he pressed it before sighing deeply.

'The first day playing and I have already died once, but luckily I leveled up once and gained some pretty great items.' He comforted himself before finally logging out.

{Dzok (Ki Shin): Level 2 - Human Sage}

{150/150 HP}

{Logging out!}

Darkness was the first thing that met Ki Shin. He slowly opened his eyes. He looked around and found the button that opened up the large system he was seated inside of. After the top opened, he took off his helmet and unclipped the belts that wrapped around him.

He got out of the pod like system and stretched his back by tilting backwards slightly. He looked at the time and found that it was only 3 Pm. There were two servers for Universe. The first server ran from 10 am until 3 pm while the second server would start at 6 pm and end at 11 pm. The reason for these two servers was because most people had full time jobs. Some would have shifts in the morning, while others had shifts that ran through the night.

The two servers allowed people with different job timings to play during the best times. Of course this system wasn't the best, but it allowed people to play for a certain amount of time and then do whatever they wanted in the real world. Ki Shin was one of the people who had a night shift. He would start work at around 7 pm and come home around 4 am. He would then sleep right away and wake up around 9 am. His sleeping schedule was quite bad, but something that was really unique about Universe was that the body would somehow be in a sleeping mode when a player is inside the game.

This should have been impossible since the mind is still awake, but the gaming companies were able to find a method to trick the body into thinking that everything is asleep, even the mind, which allowed people like Ki Shin to still get some extra sleep while they played.

This was one of the reasons that Universe was able to become so popular. It had almost no flaws.

Ki Shin quickly went to the washroom and washed his face. He then put on some clothes and walked out his door. 'Let's go get something groceries. There isn't anything in my house right now.' Ever since his parents died, he would have to do the groceries himself and cook for himself. He was used to it now, but sometimes he would get lazy and not go to get some food.

Now that he was hungry, he wanted to buy some good ingredients in order to make himself a good dish before heading off to work. He stepped out his door and began to slowly walk away.