Chapter 4：The Day of Launch (3)

(Player Midnight Solitude has entered the Woods.)

Marius ignored the notification as he walked between the trees. It was cooler in here than in the Feilds and smelled wilder.

Smell? Marius had to grin. Rajan really did make this game as authentic as he could.

Marius didn't know anything about this area. When he had logged on no one had posted anything about this area other than the Grey Wolves one hit them the moment they entered.

According to Marius' data, the Grey Wolves should be level 5-6 while the Elemental Squirrel should be Level 7-9.

The first thing Marius wanted was to take out a few Grey Wolves. He needed to get some experience and level up before taking on the Elemental Squirrels.

Grrrrr.

Marius spun, seeing a Grey Wolf pouncing ta him, its great fangs ready to chomp down on his neck.

Grey Wolf Level 6

Health: 100

Mana: 40

Skills: (Vicious Bite), (Savage Claws)

By some luck, Marius managed to jump back as the Wolf collided with him, sending them both in a tumble before they sprang apart.

-100 damage appeared above Marius' head and his blood went cold.

"That almost killed me." He whispered, his hand rubbing where the Wolves claws had gouged him. "If the claws do that much then the Fangs must be even stronger."

Marius took a breath, taking note of the trees around him. "This is going to be fun."

The Wolf pounced again and Marius dived to the side, rolling to his feet and slipping behind a tree.

Howling, the Wolf ran around the tree and got ready to attack again.

"Come on you bastard," Marius growled as the Wolf attacked. This time, Marius rolled forward under the Wolf.

Crash.

The Wolf hit the tree full force and Marius spun, slashing at the temporarily paused wolf

-5, -5, -5

"Binding Shadow" Marius cast the spell and attacked again.

-5, -5, -12

Again, Marius dashed away, not letting the Wolf get another clear shot at him.

With a savage growl, the Wolf was freed from the spell and pounced at Marius again.

Marius quickly sidestepped and slashed the Wolves side with a horizontal strike.

-5

When the Wolf landed Marius spun again, landing a hard round kick to the beast's snout. A cry burst from the Wolf as -3 appeared above its head.

"So hand to hand combat works too." Marius mused as he attacked again with his horizontal strike followed by a verticle slash.

-5, -5.

"Halfway there." Marius smiled as he kneed the Wolf in the throat and slashed again.

After a few more rounds the Wolf died in a stream of light.

(Player Midnight Solitude has gained 200 Exp, 10 Bronze Coins and 1 Grey Wolf Boots.)

Grey Wolf Boots Level 5

Attack: 2

Dexterity: 2

Marius stored the boots and contemplated what he should do next. After realizing he could also punch and kick the monsters he saw he could increase his damage by about 60%. With his low damage it wasn't a lot, but if he managed to minimize the damage he took like he did with the Grey Wolf he could easily take on a few Grey Wolves and speed up his grinding. just another 9 more Grey Wolves and he could break through into Level 3.

Marius contemplated this as he let his Mana and Health regenerate. He had a passive 5 Health per minute of regeneration so in 20 minutes he would be at max Health again.

As he waited he casually spun his sword around, working a few punches and kicks into his movements.

At first, they felt odd and out of place but after a few attempts, he got used to it. He even managed to spin the blade faster and speed up his movements.

Drrrrr.

The sudden sound made Marius slip and fall to the ground. Stunned, he saw a little pop-up window indicating he had an incoming call.

"Hello?" Marius said answering.

"Marius, have you started playing yet?" Rajan's strained voice asked on the other end.

Marius almost laughed at the strain in his voice.

"I started playing a bit over an hour ago." He replied. "I have to admit, you've outdone yourself."

"Thank you." The pride in Rajan's voice was obvious. "Have you managed to complete your first quest yet?"

"Not yet," Marius answered. "The Savage Dog and Feral Cat quest have too many people in the Feild trying to grind them. It's just a waste of time."

"Oh." Rajan sounded disappointed. "We knew something like that would happen."

"On the plus side, those Brutal Sparrows and Grey Wolves are quite fun. Almost got killed by one not too long ago."

"What? But those are way too strong for a Level 0 player to take on." Rajan said confused.

"Haha. Well, I am aiming to take on the Elemental Squirrell quest so I am just grinding till I can take them. I think Level 4 should be enough."

"Level 4? What Level are you now?"

"Level 2. I just killed my first Grey Wolf. They really do give a nice amount of experience"

Rajan was dumbfounded. After five hours of the game being launched, there were very few people that had made it to Level 2 and that was after five hours of grinding and competing. Yet the old man had done so in just one hour.

"Anyways Rajan, did you need me for anything? I'm going to start hunting those Grey Wolves now so I'm going to need to concentrate."

*Cough*.

"No no, I was just checking up on you. Let me know when you reach Level 10."

"Will do," Marius said calmly as he ended the call.

An hour later Marius had mastered slaughtering Grey Wolves and finally reached Level 4

Name: Midnight Solitude

Class: Night Stalker

Level: 4 (8010/16000)

Occupation: None

Health: 140

Mana: 140

Luck: 0

Attack: 11

Defense: 2

Intelligence: 11

Spirit:2

Dexterity: 20

Skills: Basic Slash Level 1 (860/1000 proficiency) (Deals base damage. Cooldown none)

Binding Shadow Level 1 (180/1000 proficiency) (Binds target for 2 seconds. Cost 10 Mana. Cooldown 5 seconds.)

After grinding Grey Wolves Marius had managed to get a few full sets of Grey Wolf gear. The only problem was that he couldn't equip any of it.

Looking around, he had traveled quite far into the Woods.

"It might be a good idea to get some supplies" he murmured to himself "Those Elemental Squirrels will probably have some kind of quirk."

Making up his mind, Marius dashed East, towards the Feilds. It didn't take long for him to get out of the trees, thanks to his extremely high speed.

It would be unlikely if anyone in-game could match his speed.

As he passed through the Feilds he saw that it wasn't as crowded as it was a few hours earlier. Looking at his clock it was 6:30 in the evening.

"Well," Marius said to himself. "Since no one is killing these monsters, I guess I might as well take them down."

Savage Dog

Health: 15

Mana: 20

Feral Cat

Health: 20

Mana: 20

Marius charged at the monsters that respawned and slaughtered them. Compared to the Grey Wolves the Dogs and Cats were like wet paper. Marius could just one-hit them and collect their meager loot.

His easy slaughter earned him the wide-eyed gaze of the other players nearby.

"How can a Night Stalker have such high attack?"

"Is he an expert or something?"

"He's hacking, right? Report him!"

Marius ignored the onlookers and collected his 10 Savage Dog Pelts and Exterminated the 15 Feral Cats. When he was done he ran back to the Village, heading straight for the Leaders Hall.

"Young Adventurer. You have returned faster than I thought you would."

"Village Leader, I have collected the 10 Savage Dog pelts you requested."

"Ahh, thank you for your hard work."

(Player Midnight Solitude has completed the Hunting Savage Dog quest.)

(Rewards: 1,000 Exp, 80 Bronze coins)

(Player Midnight Solitude has completed the Exterminate Feral Cats quest.)

(Rewards: 1,500 Exp, 1 Silver coin)

With the rewards, Marius now had 6 silvers and 10 Bronze coins to spend though he was still a long way from Level 5.

"Thank you Village Leader. Are there any other quests you need me to accomplish?"

"I'm glad you are so eager to help, but I currently have no quests for you until you reach Level 5. Ask around town and see if you can help anyone."

Grumbling, Marius left and wandered around the Village, talking to random NPC's as he went. He wanted to see how well this hunting for quests was as he made his way towards the potions shop.

"Looking for Level 4 and higher Players to Raid the Woods!" A bellow echoed down the road, catching Marius' attention.

Following the sounds, Marius saw a small gathering of players.

"Need a Healer and a Tank. Assassins and Night Stalkers can leave." The Speaker shouted as Marius came closer.

"Why don't you want a Night Stalker?" Marius asked, coming closer to the speaker.

The speaker was a warrior with a large two-handed sword on his back. Sneering, he looked down a Marius.

"Nightwalkers have no place on our team. Leave."

Shaking his head, Marius stepped away and nudges another player. "Why does this guy not like Night Stalkers?"

The player, a female Ranger looks at Marius. "Because they are rubbish. They have no specialization and require too many complicated skills to be useful. And their beginner skills are only useful against a single target. They are really not suitable for a team battle." The Ranger spoke as if Marius were an idiot, drawing the gaze of a few bystanders.

Marius felt a stab of annoyance at these players. He had looked through all the classes and knew that Night Stalker had the most potential if you tried hard enough with it. Why did these lazy players assume something was trash just because they didn't have the talent to make them good? Idiocy.

"Fair point," Marius replied, bottling his annoyance. "Well, good luck with the Grey Wolves and the Elemental Squirrels.

Marius turned to walk away, looking for the potion shop. he wanted to finish that quest before this team had a chance to get past the wolves.

"Wait. How do you know about the Elemental Squirrels?" It was the Ranger.

Marius ignored her and kept walking.

It didn't take long to find the shop he needed. He spent all of his coins on potions and pills, leaving him with nothing in his wallet.

"Young Adventurer. You have been such a kind customer, where is it you are going?" The Shopkeeper asked.

Marius looked up. " I am going into the Woods to hunt Elemental Squirrels." He said.

"Ahh, I see." the shopkeeper replied. "Elemental squirrels are crafty little beasts. They say they get their power from elemental stones that they steal. If you find any, I will trade you a good item for them."

(Retrieve Elemental Stones for the Shopkeeper. Do you accept?)

Marius accepted the quest and left the shop.

Not far away he could see the Warrior was still trying to form a team. Marius snorted and was about to turn to leave when the Ranger caught his eye. It was the same girl as before and she started walking towards him.

Ignoring her, Marius turned and started running towards the Woods.

"Wait!" The Ranger shouted but Marius was well out of earshot and disappeared

A half hour later, Marius was wandering the woods, going deeper and killing Grey Wolves as he went. Since reaching Level 4, the level 6 Grey Wolves became much easier to kill, posing little to no problem to dispatch.

After a time, Marius heard an odd squeak coming from the treetops.

Smiling, Marius bent over and grabbed a rock. Casually surveying the trees, he gripped the stone and flung it into the branches.

It happened instantaneously. The moment the rock hit the branches a maelstrom of noise erupted as a dozen Squirrels Burst out of the foliage.

Jumping back Marius spun his sword and started fending off the Squirrels as they attacked