Chapter 29: I'm not even married

Ryder left the village without wasting a single moment.

He passed through the dense forest and got to the beast valley.

Ryder wasn't shocked as he found people already present there as they battle the monsters to increase their levels. Although the monsters they fought were only level 1, they were still too difficult for a novice to beat.

Most of the players had made teams of 4-5 players to fight a single level 1 monster.

Ryder gazed at the teams struggling to win against monsters as he sighed.

"They are truly eager to fight. They haven't even tried going to the sword elder to learn a skill. Either they are too confident in their real-life skills, or just too dumb." Ryder muttered.

He stepped forward and passed them as he ignored their battle and went deeper into the valley.

Many players noticed him and couldn't help but talk amongst themselves.

"Hey, look at him. That guy is going deeper into the valley. Is he looking to die? "

" Who knows? He might be tired of life."

" What do you think happened to make him so upset at life? "

" I think his wife must have run away with someone. "

" His wife ran away? Was he not good in bed? "

" That's quite possible. His weapon must be too small."

"Oh, so that's why he's overcompensating by carrying that long sword with him. "

" Poor guy. "

The stories about Ryder kept getting exaggerated as people wondered why a novice was going deeper into the valley.

" Hey man! Don't worry about your wife. You'll find a better girl. Even if your weapon is small, I'm sure there must be girls who dig that kind of thing. "

One of the players called out loudly as he tried to comfort Ryder.

Ryder heard his voice and his expressions turned weird. He turned back to look at the person who has said it.

" Shut up, you bastards! I haven't even gotten married yet."  Ryder yelled.

" It's not your wife who ran away? Was it your girlfriend then? " 

Another player misunderstood his meaning and exclaimed.

" You moth... Don't make me come back and beat the hell out of you. " Ryder snorted in annoyance.

He decided to ignore the idiots and walked forth.

" Hey, don't argue with him. He's clearly upset. I guess you must have touched a nerve. It was definitely his girlfriend. Poor guy. " 

Everyone felt like that was the truth.

Ryder ignored their nonsense as he continued ahead, but before he could walk too far, a level 1 Snow Wolf came running towards him.

The monster looked like a normal wolf and had snow-white fur.

"That's one of the toughest level 1 monsters. It looks like that guy's death wish will come true." 

The other players were still able to see him as they wondered if he could survive.

The wolf growled as he jumped at Ryder.

Ryder raised his sword up in the sky and swung it with full force. 

"Enraged Slash." He called out.

The sword slashed the beast apart in 2 parts. The beast's body fell to the ground.

Everything felt so real. Although he played the game for such a long time, he was still amazed at how realistic everything was. His clothes were covered in the blood of the wolf.

He was wondering how he could clear the blood from his clothes when he heard an announcement in his head.

[+20 experience] 

He opened his status screen and noticed that he had 20 experience points now. To reach level 2, he needed 30 more points.

"The power of that strike was simply amazing. No wonder it's called a unique skill." 

Ryder smiled as he thought about his attack. He was clearly surprised at the strength.

'Too bad that the cooldown time of the skill is a minute. It's good for using against a single monster, but when fighting against multiple foes, this cooldown can be a real pain in the ass.'

He closed the status screen as he continued deeper.

His target was the nine spirit grass that grew in the region where level 2 monsters stayed.

He met another level 1 Snow beast on his journey and easily slaughtered it as well.

Another 20 experience points were added.

He just needed to kill one more monster to get to level 2, and there were still 3 uses of the Enraged Slash remaining.

Ryder kept walking, and finally, he met another monster.

It was a different monster this time. It looked like a cute rabbit. The only difference was that it had blood-red eyes.

"Hey, little guy." Ryder smilingly said.

He slowly stepped towards the rabbit that looked like it was eating the grass.

The rabbit looked at him with curious eyes as it watched him come closer. It didn't run away; neither did it look like it was getting ready to attack. It simply kept eating.

As soon as Ryder was within the 5 meters range of the rabbit, the rabbit abruptly jumped towards Ryder's face. Its speed was so fast that even Ryder was stunned.

He reacted fast and swung his sword. Fortunately, Ryder's years of experience as a warrior came into play as his sword managed to make contact with the small rabbit.

The rabbit was killed in an instant.

Ryder's already bloodied clothes now had the blood of another animal.

"Cheh... I feel like a butcher. I must find a lake to wash myself off after I get the herbs." 

He was feeling disgusted by the smell of blood. This was the part he always hated about this game. The developers had made everything so real. Even the smell of blood was pungent.

In the previous timeline, he had managed to find a special item that stopped the smell of blood from affecting it. Unfortunately, he had to start over now.

[+10 experience]

[Level +1]

He saw two floating notifications on a new notification screen.

He opened his status screen to check on his stats.

[Name: Hades

Species: Human

Level:2 

Experience: 50/150

Strength: 5

Defense:4

Speed:4

Stamina:4

Dexterity:3

Intelligence:5

Available stat points: 2

Skills: 

Enraged Slash: Level 1 (1% mastery) ]

Ryder thought for a while before he decided to use both his stat points. The information on the screen changed. 

[Name: Hades

Species: Human

Level:2 

Experience: 50/150

Strength: 5

Defense:4

Speed:4

Stamina:4

Dexterity:4(+1)

Intelligence:6(+1)

Available stat points: 0

Skills: 

Enraged Slash: Level 1 (1% mastery) ]

Satisfied with his stats, he closed the screen and continued on his journey.